Chile: While generally strong, Chile's intellectual property laws are not yet consistent with TRIPS standards. For example, the term of patent protection falls short of the 20-year standard mandated by TRIPS, the trademark law is deficient in a number of areas and computer software is not clearly protected as a "literary work." We understand that the Chilean Government intends to address the outstanding problems prior to January 1, 2000. Inadequate enforcement of copyrights and trademarks remains a serious concern, as does the large backlog of pending patent applications. We look to the Government of Chile to make great strides in eliminating this backlog and to bring its legal regime into compliance with TRIPS in 1999.

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