democratic governance in Thailand, and the United States looks forward to working with the new Thai government to seek resolution of these concerns. The United States recognizes that in 2007, Thai law enforcement officials continued to conduct actions against infringing activity at the retail and distribution levels. Despite these efforts, however, piracy and counterfeiting rates remained high. The United States strongly urges Thailand's authorities to take additional concrete actions to strengthen its IPR regime that include continuous and sustained enforcement actions that get to the source of the infringing activity and issuance of deterrent penalties to IPR infringers, specific steps to improve interagency coordination, and to combat optical disc piracy, large-scale organized book piracy, cable and signal theft, and entertainment and business software piracy. Thai authorities should also take steps to address production and distribution of counterfeit products, as well as delays in the granting of patents. While the United States recognizes the importance of Thailand's public health challenges, Thailand's recent policies and actions regarding the compulsory licensing of patented medicines have contributed to continuing concerns regarding the adequate and effective protection of IPR in Thailand. The United States is awaiting further information on the new Thai government's approach in this area and hopes to work constructively on this and other IPR issues in order to strengthen Thailand's IPR regime.
VENEZUELA
Venezuela will remain on the Priority Watch List in 2008. Venezuela made no effort to improve its weak IPR regime in 2007. Copyright piracy continues to worsen, while proposed copyright legislation, if re-introduced, would severely undercut the existing Venezuelan copyright law, as well as bilateral and international standards of IP protection. The U.S. pharmaceutical industry reports that Venezuela has not issued a patent to a foreign pharmaceutical product since 2003, and has not issued any patents at all since 2005. Venezuela also does not provide protection against unfair commercial use of undisclosed test and other data generated to obtain marketing approval for pharmaceutical products. In April 2006, Venezuela withdrew from the Andean Community, raising questions about Venezuela's ability to fulfill its international IPR obligations and whether it will provide for the effective administration of its IPR system. The United States urges the Venezuelan government to take immediate action to improve IPR protection, particularly by addressing piracy and counterfeiting, amending inadequate legislative proposals or laws, protecting against unfair commercial use of undisclosed test and other data generated to obtain marketing approval for pharmaceutical products, and improving IPR enforcement.
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