The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) said Friday that although Taiwan is no longer on the USTR Special 301 watch list, this does not mean there is no dispute between Taipei and Washington on the issue of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection. The United States will continue to talk with Taiwan on the issue, the office said. The office made the statement after publishing its 2010 Special Report earlier in the day. The annual report examines IPR protection adequacy and effectiveness in many countries around the world. Nations that fall short of U.S.-set standards can be placed on the Priority Watch List, the Watch List, and/or Section 306 Monitoring status. The lists are used as a reference by the U.S. government when it decides whether or not to impose trade sanctions against those that it considers have not adopted strict enough copyright laws and those it feels have not taken an active role in combating copyright infringements. Since Taiwan was first placed on the Special 301 watch list in 1989, its name has usually remained there. In 2009, it was left off the list for the first time in over a decade, and the exclusion continued in the 2010 report. However, IPR disputes between the U.S. and Taiwan still exist, USTR officials noted, underlining that the U.S. will continue trying to talk with its trade partners to resolve IPR problems. Meanwhile, Taiwan's representative office in the U.S. said it was delighted to hear that Taiwan had been left off the watch list. 