CHILE

Chile’s intellectual property laws are not fully consistent with its international obligations. As we mentioned in last year’s report, the Government of Chile introduced legislation in 1999 intended to make Chile’s intellectual property regime TRIPS-compliant. This legislation has still not been enacted and reportedly is not TRIPS-consistent, even in its draft form. Among other issues, we are concerned that the draft law may not provide adequate protection for confidential test data. Inadequate enforcement against piracy and counterfeiting also remains a serious problem, as does the large backlog of pending patent applications. We are now engaged in negotiations on the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement. We expect the Government of Chile to bring its legal regime into compliance with TRIPS before we conclude these negotiations.

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