Chile: While generally strong, Chile's intellectual property laws are not yet consistent with its obligations under the WTO TRIPS Agreement which came into force on January 1, 2000. 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." The Government of Chile introduced legislation in 1999 intended to make Chile's intellectual property regime TRIPS-compliant. This legislation has yet to be enacted and reportedly is not, in fact, TRIPS-consistent. Concerns have been expressed that the draft law does not provide adequate protection for confidential test data, among other issues. Inadequate enforcement against piracy and counterfeiting remains a serious concern, as does the large backlog of pending patent applications. We look to the Government of Chile to eliminate the backlog of patent applications and to bring its legal regime into compliance with TRIPS without further delay.

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