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 Argentina

Argentina remains on the Priority Watch List in 2013. Argentina continued to improve IPR enforcement by increasing the number of enforcement raids in 2012 and improving cooperation between enforcement officials and industry. Argentina's judicial authorities also initiated civil and criminal actions against the unauthorized distribution of pirated content over the Internet. Despite these actions, significant concerns remain with respect to rampant piracy and counterfeiting, including in the digital environment. The United States urges Argentina to take additional steps to curb growing piracy over the Internet. Argentina's judicial system remains inefficient and there is a need for more deterrent-level sentences. The United States also encourages Argentina to provide for protection against unfair commercial use, as well as unauthorized disclosure, of test and other data generated to obtain marketing approval for pharmaceutical products, and to provide an effective system to address patent issues expeditiously in connection with applications to market pharmaceutical products, and eliminate the longstanding backlog of patent applications. The United States looks forward to continuing to work with Argentina to address these and other issues.

Chile

Chile remains on the Priority Watch List in 2013. The United States continues to have serious concerns regarding outstanding IPR issues under the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement. Although Chile took some steps in 2012 to propose legislation, the United States continues to urge Chile to implement an effective system for addressing patent issues expeditiously in connection with applications to market pharmaceutical products. The United States also continues to urge Chile to implement both protections against the unlawful circumvention of technological protection measures, and protections for encrypted program-carrying satellite signals. It is also important for Chile to ensure that effective administrative and judicial procedures, as well as deterrent remedies are made available to rights holders and satellite and cable service providers. In addition, the United States urges Chile to provide adequate protection against unfair commercial use, as well as unauthorized disclosure, of undisclosed test or other data generated to obtain marketing approval for pharmaceutical products, and to amend its Internet service provider (ISP) liability regime to permit effective action against piracy over the Internet. The United States looks forward to continuing to work with Chile to resolve these and other issues, including through the TPP negotiations.

China

China remains on the Priority Watch List and subject to section 306 monitoring.

In the past year, the climate for IPR protection and enforcement continued to reflect efforts toward and opportunities for improvement, as well as challenges for U.S. rights holders. Obtaining effective enforcement of IPR in China remains a central challenge, as it has been for many years. This situation has been made worse by cybertheft, as information suggests that 31