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 PAKISTAN

Pakistan will remain on the Priority Watch List in 2009. In 2005, Pakistan conducted a number of raids of optical disc plants and shut down many of them. While these actions appear to have reduced the production and export of pirated optical discs in and from Pakistan, only some of those arrested were prosecuted and the few verdicts that were issued resulted in imposition of only minimal sentences. Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency continues to conduct large scale raids, but the lack of successful prosecutions provides little deterrent effect. Moreover, Pakistan has not made progress to provide effective protection against unfair commercial use of undisclosed test and other data generated to obtain marketing approval for pharmaceutical products, nor has it provided an effective system to prevent the issuance of marketing approvals for unauthorized copies of patented pharmaceutical products. The United States encourages Pakistan to strengthen enforcement against book and optical disc piracy, aggressively prosecute IPR crimes, and seek deterrent-level sentences for IPR infringers, especially against those connected with the optical disc pirate plants that were shut down in 2005. The United States will continue to monitor closely the IPR situation and work with Pakistan to achieve further improvements in its IPR protection and enforcement regimes.

THAILAND

Thailand will remain on the Priority Watch List in 2009 due to a broad range of continuing concerns surrounding IPR protection and enforcement. The Thai Government made little progress over the past year in addressing the widespread problems of piracy and counterfeiting. The United States is encouraged, however, by the positive statements made by senior Thai officials in Prime Minister Abhisit's Administration, which has been in office since mid-December 2008, on the new Government's intentions to make IPR protection and enforcement a higher priority and to address the longstanding deficiencies in IPR protection in Thailand. We welcome the Thai Government's message that stronger IPR protection and enforcement is a national priority, reflected by the creation of the National Task Force and the participation of the Prime Minister in this group. The United States hopes that the Thai Government will quickly translate these commitments into concrete actions to reduce large-scale entertainment and business software piracy, cable and signal theft, and organized book piracy, as well as actions to address delays in granting patents. The United States is also encouraged by Thailand's expressed intentions to reduce the uncertainty created by the previous Government's policies concerning the issuance of compulsory licenses on patented pharmaceutical products. We further encourage Thailand to ensure that the patent system promotes the development and creation of new lifesaving drugs. As affirmed in the 2001 WTO Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, the United States respects a country's right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all. In this regard, the United States respects a country's right to grant compulsory licenses in a manner consistent with the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement. Consistent with these views, we urge Thailand to consider ways of addressing its public health challenges while maintaining a stable patent system that promotes investment, research, and innovation.