Israel kept on U.S. trade 'watch list'
By Ora Coren Ha'aretz Industry CorrespondentTo the great disappointment of the Industry and Trade Ministry, the United States Trade Department has kept Israel on its "watch list", a register of those countries that fail to meet standards with regard to copyright protection. The reasons given for not removing Israel from the list included the continued pirating of music tapes, videos and computer software, its role in the network for pirate versions of Russian language software and its approval of developing the generic drugs sector during the period when the original drugs in question are still protected by patents.
Staff at the Industry and Trade Ministry that have dealt with the issue expressed their disappointment yesterday, hoping that Israel's appearance on the list for the past two years would have ended after the concerted efforts of Israeli law-enforcement agencies in combating pirate copies, which has won the blessing of the Israeli music industry.
Though the U.S. Trade Representative noted in his report yesterday that Israel had increased its policing of copyright infringements, nevertheless, "convictions are rare and do not result in deterrent penalties."
The Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick added that Israel's patent protection is "inadequate." The report noted that the Israeli government allowed the parallel import of pharmaceuticals protected by patents in May 2000 and, contrary to the obligations laid down in the TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) agreement, the government also allows the generic drug firms to conduct tests using data submitted by the innovator pharmaceutical firms.
The report noted that the two parties continue to consult with each other on intellectual property rights, but added that: "if there is no progress in the data protection area, the United States will need to consider other options ... to encourage Israel to remedy this situation.
