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Andean Pact, lack of adequate patent protection is of great concern to our industries. It is our hope that these countries will introduce this protection in the near future.
USE OF SPECIAL 301 TO DATE
In its first annual review, on May 25, 1989, the USTR singled out 25 trading partners whose practices warranted special attention. Of these, 17 were placed on the Watch List, while the remaining eight were placed on a Priority Watch List.
The status of the eight trading partners placed on the Priority Watch List was reviewed on November 1, 1989. Saudi Arabia, Korea and Taiwan were moved from the Priority Watch List to the Watch List at that time because of significant progress in the protection of intellectual property rights.
In January 1990, Mexico was removed from all lists after it published its "Industry and Trade Sectoral Plan" outlining the Mexican Government's intention to improve process and product patent protection, in addition to improving the enforcement of trademarks and providing enhanced protection for trade secrets.
In the second annual review, announced on April 27, 1990, the USTR placed 23 trading partners, whose practices were of special concern, on one or the other of the two lists. Four countries were retained on the Priority Watch List: Brazil, India, PRC, and Thailand. Nineteen trading partners were retained on the Watch List. Portugal was removed from all lists.
PROGRESS ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ISSUES
January – April 1991
- Chile enacted a revised patent law, including product patent protection for pharmaceuticals but implementing regulations have not yet been issued. (January).
- The United States and The People's Republic of Mongolia signed a trade agreement including strong protection for intellectual property rights (January).
- Japan sent a revised copyright law to the Diet for consideration which would extend the term of protection from 30 to 50 years, and provide better protection for foreign phonograms (March).
- Japan introduced a bill in the Diet amending the Trademark Law to provide protection for service marks (March).
- Venezuela has decided to modernize its industrial property
