Indonesia is responsive to private sector requests for enforcement assistance and welcomes input on draft legislation, overall enforcement of intellectual property rights, including that of trademarks, held by U.S. companies, remains weak. Industry reports a troubling increase in illegal production lines for optical media and pirated books far beyond Indonesia's domestic consumption capacity. Indonesia's judicial system continues to frustrate right-holders with years of delay and a pronounced lack of deterrent penalties. However, the U.S. Government is encouraged by several recent developments in Indonesia that may address some of the deficiencies listed in the action plan the United States provided Indonesia in January 2001. In particular, Indonesia prepared draft optical media regulations and established provisions for commercial courts throughout the country to process intellectual property rights cases within the country's district court system. The United States urges Indonesia to work with the U.S. Government to ensure that the draft regulations are adequate and effective prior to their enactment and to continue to develop specialized legal and judicial expertise for the prosecution of intellectual property rights violations. Rigorous enforcement in the near term of these regulations and of the copyright law against illegal optical disk producers is critical. The U.S. Government is providing an updated action plan to Indonesia that reflects these recent developments and further refines the specific benchmarks contained in the earlier action plan. The United States will conduct an Out-of-Cycle Review in the fall to assess progress toward achieving these benchmarks.
ISRAEL
The United States commends the notable progress Israel achieved in 2001 in copyright enforcement. In 2001 Israel significantly increased the budgetary, educational, police and judicial resources it devotes to such enforcement efforts, with extensive concrete results in terms of raids, abatement of illegal CD production, and a drop in the piracy level for U.S. repertoire. Knesset approval is expected soon for a copyright law that would increase penalties and expedite prosecution for copyright violations, a step which would be a highly positive development. However, Israel maintains its policy of allowing its generic pharmaceuticals to rely on the confidential test data of U.S. innovator firms to obtain marketing approval, a policy it contends is TRIPS-consistent. Moreover, the lack of a clear definition for end-user piracy of business software as a crime, court procedural delays, and inadequate compensatory and deterrent civil damages have weakened some of its enforcement efforts. An opinion by the Ministry of Justice concluding that payment for the broadcasting and public performance of U.S. sound recordings is no longer necessary remains a concern, and the U.S. Government continues to seek clarification regarding the bearing of this opinion on Israel's bilateral obligations to the United States. The U.S. Government urges the Knesset to act soon to pass the copyright law and looks forward to continued improvements in Israel's intellectual property regime, including sustained efforts to strengthen copyright enforcement, that can be reflected in the OCR to be conducted later this year.
LEBANON
The United States is concerned by Lebanon's severe copyright piracy problem and the lack of a comprehensive governmental commitment to eliminate piracy and foster legitimate business. Despite
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