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 enforcement in Argentina consists mainly of rights holders trying to convince cooperative Argentine online providers to agree to take down specific infringing works, and attempting to seek injunctions in civil cases. Criminal enforcement is nearly nonexistent.

Argentina does not provide adequate protection against the unfair commercial use, as well as unauthorized disclosure, of undisclosed test or other data generated to obtain marketing approval for pharmaceutical or agricultural chemical products, nor does Argentina provide an appealing environment to patent owners in terms of pendency, scope and term of protection, or meaningful enforcement options. Rather than providing protection for pending patents, Argentina only provides patent protection from the date of the grant of the patent. There is a substantial backlog of patent applications which results in long delays in registering rights. Argentina rejects patent applications with claims for common pharmaceutical products. To be patentable, Argentina requires that processes for the manufacture of active compounds disclosed in a specification be reproducible and applicable on an industrial scale. It is unclear whether these restrictive guidelines also apply to biotechnology products. These restrictions limit the ability of companies investing in Argentina to protect their IPR, and are inconsistent with international practice.

Finally, rights holders complain of widespread use of unlicensed software by Argentine private enterprises and the government. The Argentine government's imposition of currency exchange restrictions and the prohibition on payment of dividends and royalties to foreign parties make it difficult for Argentine companies seeking proper software licenses to obtain the currency needed to pay for such licenses. This presents yet another significant market access barrier for IPR-intensive companies who consider investing in Argentina.

CHILE

Chile remains on the Priority Watch List in 2015. The United States continues to have serious concerns regarding longstanding IPR issues under the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement. 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 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. The United States continues to urge Chile to implement both protections against the unlawful circumvention of technological protection measures and protections for encrypted program-carrying satellite signals. Chile must also ensure that effective administrative and judicial procedures, as well as deterrent remedies, are made available to rights holders and satellite and cable service providers, including measures to address ongoing concerns with decoder boxes. Finally, the United States urges Chile to amend its Internet Service Provider liability regime to permit effective action against piracy over the Internet, and also urges Chile to improve protection for plant varieties. The United States 57