Taipei  - Taiwan on Saturday said it regretted being kept on a US list for failing to protect intellectual property rights.

Taiwan said the US should realize Taipei's effort in protecting intellectual property rights (IPR) and remove it from the Special 301 Watch List.

"Regarding Taiwan's being retained on the ordinary 301 Watch List, the Economics Ministry's Intellectual Property Office expresses deep regret," the Economics Ministry said in a statement.

"We hope the US can realize and fully understand the efforts Taiwan has made in recent years, and we will continue to try to create a good atmosphere for protecting IPR," the ministry said.

The Economics Ministry was responding to an annual US report on IPR protection released by the US Trade Representative's office on Friday.

The report singled out nine countries for failing to respect US patents and copyrights, putting them on a priority watch list.

The nine nations on the priority watch list are China, Russia, Argentina, Chile, India, Israel, Pakistan, Thailand and Venezuela.

Taiwan and 35 countries were placed on the less serious watch list. The US Trade Representative's office will conduct out-of-cycle reviews on Taiwan and Israel and decide in the summer if they can be removed from the list.

Taiwan was kept on the report's priority watch list from 2001 until 2005, when the US downgraded Taipei to the less stringent watch list, citing Taipei's law enforcement and legislative action to fight piracy.

Canada, South Korea, Spain, Norway, Malaysia and Mexico are among the countries on the lower watch list. (dpa)