necessary resources to effectuate lasting improvements. To better evaluate the effectiveness of IPR prosecutions in Costa Rica, the government should provide detailed information, by type of IPR involved, on the number of cases that are opened, that result in charges, that are resolved, and any resulting sentences. In addition, the Ministry of Justice should call more meetings of the inter-institutional commission on IPR. Other concerns focus on various laws and regulations. Costa Rican law still allows online service providers 45 days to forward infringement notices to subscribers. However, action at such a glacial pace may be of little help to rights holders, given the speed at which infringing content can be posted to and downloaded, streamed, or shared through the Internet, as well as the fact that content may be of relatively short-term interest to the public. Pharmaceutical patent holders report various concerns, including poorly defined exceptions to Costa Rica's data exclusivity regime. Further, certain rulings on applications to register GIs present serious market access concerns, as administrative determinations at both the initial and review levels appeared to reject evidence vital in determining whether elements of a compound GI are generic. It is critical that Costa Rican authorities consider all relevant facts and arguments and provide clear notice to the public as to generic terms, including any that are elements of a compound GI. Moreover, while giving rise to optimism in last year's report, Costa Rica's new electronic trademark database is reportedly unsearchable, resulting in the need for time-consuming paper searches. In addition, the government has acknowledged that its customs procedures could be improved significantly; for example, Costa Rica should create a formal customs recordal system for trademarks to give customs officers the technical and contact information they need to make full use of their ex officio authority to detain and examine goods and should speed up resolution of customs cases. The United States urges Costa Rica to develop clear plans to tackle longstanding problems and to demonstrate tangible progress in implementing those plans prior to the next Special 301 Report.
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic remains on the Watch List in 2015. While there has been some positive enforcement action over the past year to promote public safety against threats from potentially unsafe products, substantial IPR concerns remain, including the widespread availability of pirated and counterfeit products, satellite signal piracy, and a longstanding patent application backlog. In an encouraging development in 2014, the Government of the Dominican Republic created in the Public Ministry an office responsible for prosecuting makers and sellers of counterfeit drugs and food products and is working with the National Police to execute raids, close illegitimate pharmacies and food retailers, and make arrests. In other areas, however, IPR enforcement has not improved. One Embassy contact estimated that only 10 of 150 cable providers operating in the Dominican Republic are licensed to provide cable services, yet the Government of the Dominican Republic has not taken enforcement actions. Although the Dominican patent office (ONAPI) granted more patents in 2014 than in 2013, the large backlog of pending patent applications continues to grow, standing at 1,379 pending applications as of June 2014. ONAPI is in the process of digitizing patents and creating an online application and retrieval system, but these efforts will take several years to complete. The United States Patent and Trademark Office continues to offer technical assistance to complete this modernization effort. The large patent application backlog underscores the need for patent term adjustment for
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