unrest during the year. The United States reiterates its concerns regarding IPR protection and enforcement in Lebanon and hopes to see renewed attention to IPR by Lebanon in the coming year, particularly in light of Lebanon's bid for accession to the WTO.
THAILAND
Thailand will be elevated to the Priority Watch List in 2007, reflecting a concern that the past year has been characterized by an overall deterioration in the protection and enforcement of IPR in Thailand. The United States appreciates that many Thai law enforcement officials continue to work, amid challenging circumstances, to conduct actions against infringing activity. However, these efforts appear not to have had a measurable effect on piracy and counterfeiting rates, which remain unacceptably high. The weak nature of Thailand's legislation governing optical disc media constitutes a particular challenge in addressing the large scale of pirated disc production. Book piracy, cable and signal theft, and entertainment and business software piracy have likewise not been addressed in a meaningful way. Production and distribution of infringing copies of trademarked products, such as apparel and footwear, also remain widespread. With respect to all of these areas, insufficiently deterrent legal penalties contribute to ongoing infringement problems. In addition to these longstanding concerns with deficient IPR protection in Thailand, in late 2006 and early 2007, there were further indications of a weakening of respect for patents, as the Thai Government announced decisions to issue compulsory licenses for several patented pharmaceutical products. While the United States acknowledges a country's ability to issue such licenses in accordance with WTO rules, the lack of transparency and due process exhibited in Thailand represents a serious concern. These actions have compounded previously expressed concerns such as delay in the granting of patents and weak protection against unfair commercial use for data generated to obtain marketing approval.
TURKEY
Turkey will remain on the Priority Watch List in 2007. Turkey made some progress on copyright enforcement during 2006, including an increased number of raids against copyright pirates and seizures of pirated goods, impositions of stronger penalties by the courts, and cooperation between law enforcement authorities and the private industry. The United States encourages Turkey to build upon this progress and to take at least the following steps: continue to address copyright piracy, including book piracy, business software piracy in the private sector, and government use of legal software, as well as increase judicial efficiency and reduce backlogs of court cases by allocating sufficient resources to the judiciary. The United States also encourages Turkey to further strengthen protection against unfair commercial use for pharmaceutical data generated to obtain marketing approval, particularly with respect to the start date of the period of protection and the inappropriate linkage of the term of data protection to the remaining term of the patent. The United States hopes to see Turkey's continued progress on these issues during the coming year, and will continue to monitor Turkey's progress in strengthening its IPR regime.
UKRAINE
Ukraine will remain on the Priority Watch List in 2007. After concluding an Out-of-Cycle Review in 2006, the United States lowered Ukraine from the Priority Foreign Country list to the Priority Watch List and reinstated Ukraine's benefits under the GSP program based on Ukraine's passage and implementation of amendments to its Laser-readable Disc Law to combat optical
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