and resulted in the suspension in 1997 of 50% of Argentina's benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences. In 1999, the United States filed a WTO dispute settlement case challenging, among other things, Argentina's failure to provide an exclusive marketing rights system for pharmaceutical products. On May 30, 2000, the United States expanded its claims in this dispute to include new concerns that have arisen as a result of Argentina's failure to fully implement its remaining TRIPS obligations that came due on January 1, 2000, such as Argentina's failure to provide preliminary injunctions to prevent infringements of patent rights and its exclusion of certain subject matter from patentability. Recent consultations with the Government of Argentina have been constructive and a number of claims in the case may be resolvable. However, there are still some outstanding issues that must be addressed before the dispute settlement case can be fully concluded.
On the copyright front, while a 1998 law criminalizing software piracy has not been effectively implemented, Argentina has improved its copyright laws by ratifying the latest act of the Berne Convention. We remain concerned about a 1999 tax reform law that imposes customs duties on all forms of intellectual property, as well as the possible imposition of duties on electronic commerce, despite Argentina's support of the 1998 WTO Ministerial declaration on keeping cyberspace duty-free.
Costa Rica
Despite positive steps taken by Costa Rica in 2000, including amending its 1982 copyright law to comply with the TRIPS Agreement, there is growing concern regarding the lack of effective enforcement activity by the Government of Costa Rica. This lack of effective enforcement has been exacerbated by weaknesses in a new law on criminal procedures and penalties for intellectual property crimes passed last year. The law, among other things, provides lesser penalties for intellectual property crimes than for non-IP crimes, and de-criminalizes infringement deemed of "insignificant character" or that is committed "without intention of profit." Estimates of the level of optical media piracy remain roughly constant from last year, but the Government of Costa Rica's willingness and ability to address this problem through existing legal mechanisms is in serious doubt. The United States urges Costa Rica to improve coordination of enforcement activities between public prosecutors and investigators; appoint special prosecutors to take on intellectual property cases; create a coordinated nationwide plan for defending and enforcing IP rights; and improve enforcement-related training at all levels of government. The United States will conduct an OCR in the fall to assess Costa Rica's legislative and enforcement efforts.
Dominican Republic
Serious deficiencies in the patent law enacted in May 2000 have not been corrected, although the Dominican Republic recently established a commission to review the law's implementing regulations, as well as a separate commission to coordinate the "national policy of struggle against the violation of intellectual property rights." The Government's commitment to correct deficiencies that can only be addressed through legislative changes, however, remains less certain. Among the problems with the law are: overly-broad exclusions of subject matter from patentability, protectionist local working requirements, and an inadequate patent term. In September 2000, the U.S. Government urged the newly-inaugurated Mejia Administration to
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