television piracy worsened. Recently, the GODR has taken important and encouraging steps where there had been no previous action against violators of broadcast piracy. The GODR initiated inspections of two television stations and submitted evidence of piracy to the Attorney General for prosecution, and initiated action against a third station. It is imperative that the Dominican Republic sustain effective enforcement against broadcast piracy.
Under the auspices of the United States-Dominican Republic Trade and Investment Council (TIC), the GODR has demonstrated renewed commitment to addressing U.S. concerns. Between October 2002 and March 2003 meetings of the TIC, the GODR appointed an intellectual property rights committee to complete a review of the patent law to bring it into compliance with TRIPS. The changes to the patent law recommended by the committee now are reflected in an executive decree. We look to the Dominican Government to implement a decree that is fully consistent with international standards in the near term. In 2002, ONDA, the Dominican Copyright Office, continued its aggressive campaign of inspections, raids and seizures against pirates, but requires further GODR support and resources to sustain this campaign.
ECUADOR
In 2002, there was a lessening of intellectual property protection in Ecuador, with a decrease in enforcement efforts. The Ecuadorian Institute for Intellectual Property (IEPI) canceled a patent for a major U.S. pharmaceutical product. Copycat manufacturers succeeded in obtaining sanitary registrations for medicines protected by patent. Industry concerns about a poorly worded provision in the Education Law (which has been interpreted as guaranteeing free software to educational institutions) were not addressed fully. For all of these reasons, we are placing Ecuador back on the Watch List this year. In addition, we will monitor Ecuador's progress on the protection of intellectual property, especially with respect to the data protection issue, and will review progress on these issues in the Fall.
EGYPT
Egypt made significant progress in strengthening its IPR protections through improvements in its domestic legal and enforcement regimes in 2002. The major development in 2002 was Egypt's passage of a new comprehensive IPR law which represents an improvement in all major facets of Egypt's IPR regime, although apparent TRIPS-inconsistencies are found throughout. Egypt did meet certain key TRIPS requirements, including providing data exclusivity (Article 39.3) and exclusive marketing rights, and enacting a patent mailbox. The Egyptian Government continues to advance its effort to ensure the use of legitimate software in all government offices. In addition, Egypt's parliament ratified the WIPO Patent Cooperation Treaty, a step that the Egyptian Government intends to follow up with changes in its domestic regulations necessary to come into compliance with the treaty. Egypt also made some progress in combating piracy of records and music, books, and business software applications.
