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Lebanon: The United States is concerned that copyright piracy dominates the Lebanese market and that progress in legal reform toward meeting world standards is slow. The Broadcast Law enacted in November 1996, however, has helped reduce IPR infringement. Television piracy remains a serious problem. The most urgent needs in Lebanon include: 1) judicial reform of administrative processes; 2) full implementation of licensing under the Broadcast Law; 3) and the completion of the copyright law reform process. Although Lebanon has a copyright law that adheres to the 1928 text of the Berne Convention and to the Universal Copyright Convention, this legislation must be amended to meet TRIPS standards, and penalties for copyri&ht infringement should be increased.
Mexico: has committed to implement and enforce high levels of intellectual property rights protection. Notable achievements have been Mexico's signing (but not yet ratifying) the UPOV Convention and the Patent Cooperation Treaty, and reactivating its Interministerial Commission for the protection of IPR. Nevertheless, piracy remains a major problem in Mexico, with U.S. industry loss estimates increasing. The Government of Mexico passed a new Copyright Law in late 1996, which substantially increases protection for several types of copyright material and increases criminal penalties in several areas. Problems and ambiguities remain, but the Mexican Government is in the process of taking legislative and regulatory actions designed to address these concerns. Despite this progress, the Government of Mexico has not taken adequate actions or imposed penalties sufficient to reduce very high piracy levels.
Nicaragua: Nicaragua's current copyright law, which dates from 1904, does not explicitly protect computer software, which contributes to endemic piracy of these products. Piracy of video recordings, unauthorized video and sound recordings, and piracy of U.S. satellite signals is also widespread. The current patent law, which dates to 1899, fails to meet international standards for term of protection and for subject matter subject to patentability. However, Nicaragua did make substantial progress in 1996 toward concluding a Bilateral Intellectual Property Rights Agreement with the United States and has indicated a desire to complete this negotiation in 1997. The United States urges Nicaragua to successfully conclude these negotiations as soon as possible.
Qatar: enacted a copyright law in July 1995, which came into force in October 1996, but Qatar lacks legal protections for pharmaceutical patents. The copyright law only provides for protection of foreign works on the basis of reciprocity. However, Qatar is a member of the WTO, which obligates it to protect works from all other WTO members. In addition, despite enactment of the copyright law, no judicial enforcement has yet taken place. Because there is no legal protection for pharmaceutical product patents, numerous unauthorized copies of US-patented pharmaceuticals are registered in Qatar.
Romania: passed a new copyright law on March 13, 1996 which appears to meet international standards. Regrettably it appears that after Romania undertook an initial anti-piracy campaign following implementation of the law, it relaxed its efforts and piracy has returned to the market. Romania continues to fail to provide pipeline patent protection for pharmaceuticals despite assurances under the U.S.-Romania Trade Agreement to "exert best efforts" to enact such legislation by December 1993. The Administration is concerned that little progress was made over the past year to ensure that the new law is effectively implemented and enforced in order to end (1) the piracy of U.S. motion pictures by TV stations in Romania, (2) the production of pirated
