"US govt should elevate Thailand to Special 301 Priority Watch List"

USA For Innovation, a non-profit group focused on the protection of intellectual property rights, has released an open letter to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt and US Trade Representative Susan Schwab reminding them of the importance of IPR to the American economy and to encourage them to use this month's visit by Thailand's Minister of Health, Mongkol na Songkhla, to confront the recent threats by his country to seize patents owned by US companies (Marketletters passim).

Earlier this month and in anticipation of the Special 301 Report annually issued at the end of April, the USTR said that Thailand continues to suffer from "widespread commercial IPR counterfeiting and piracy." The new Thai military regime, which assumed power by a coup last September, has now introduced direct government theft of American innovation into the quickly deteriorating USA-Thailand relationship through its taking of the patents of three drugs produced by American and European companies. These drugs, for HIV/AIDS and heart conditions cost billions of dollars to develop and market, says USA for Innovation.

In the open letter, the pressure group urges the US government to educate the new Thai regime on the consequences of its endorsement of dismantling IP protection when the Thai Minister visits Washington DC for high-level government meetings. In addition, the USTR should elevate Thailand to the Priority Watch List in its Special 301 Report to be released at the end of April, it said.