Excessive control of copyright by the United States: Chile in the spotlight

Chile in the Black List of United States of America (Univision.com, 2013) this is a headline in
several websites and journals, but the reason of this powerful title is not clear for everyone. The
economic interest of the leading copyright country is simple: The United States is one of the centers
of globalization that includes the copyright industry and its economy is mostly based in copyright
profits. Despite what companies or industries related with this issue may say, there is an excessive
control of copyright by this country that affects the entire world, even to their own citizens People
have realized that copyright affects them every day and the direction that weve seen over the last
few years really troubles them. Thats why so many people are speaking out. (Ben Cato Clough,
2010).
Every human being has the right to communicate, but what happens when the information you want
to communicate legally belongs to another person? To answer this question is imperative to know
why copyright is an essential concern? The copyright is a different kind of good because is
intangible, which means, it does not have any physical body and is more easy to transport and
commercialize that another kind of goods. Moreover, the economic aspects in the production of
intellectual property are lower than other kind of goods. The investment of the initial product is
higher than the copies and can be replicate to the market. Therefore, intellectual property assets,
have the potential to give their owners a very high profit range after the initial capital investment.
The copyright industry is attempting to place piracy and terrorism at the same level The industry is
trying to demonize consumer behavior. Theyre trying to create the idea that its a moral debate: is
downloading something wrong or right? Is it theft or not? These are the wrong questions and they
will only ever produce the wrong answers (Ben Cato Clough, 2010)

Now, when the international copyright system has 130 years working (from 1886-2016), it can be
asked: Who benefits from this system? Which countries sell their copyrighted works? And which
countries buy this goods? Is it global trade with copyright a free and fair trade? Perhaps the easiest
way to answer these questions is to understand what countries of the world have a global "net
surplus" in the trade of intellectual property products.
United States provides every year a report where they list the major countries with copyright issues,
but, why the United States is the only country with this kind of report? The answer might be
because Unites States is a developed country that produce a huge amount of new material every
year, and this material (books, songs, movies, software, among others) must be protected under the
copyright law. But this answer is not enough. China or Japan might create a similar report, because
they equally are developed and industrialized countries that produce an important amount of goods
that are commercialized around the world.
Chile in the second place of copyright infringement in the 2011 Intellectual Property report, IP
Watch List and among the top ten in the Priority Watch List of 2016.
Chile remains on the Priority Watch List in 2016. The United States recognizes
steps Chile made in 2015 to reduce processing times for patents, to increase IP
enforcement actions, and reduce the rate of unlicensed software use. For
example, in January 2016, authorities in Chile took action against a piracy group
responsible for releasing more than 80 unauthorized camcorded copies on at
least ten different websites. However, the United States continues to have
serious concerns regarding longstanding IPR issues under the United StatesChile Free Trade Agreement. (Office of the United State Trade Representative,
2016)

However, what did Chile to be in the Priority Watch List? In January 2007, the United
States Trade Representative decided to add Chile to the Priority Watch List of countries
considered to have serious deficiencies in the protection or implementation of intellectual
property rights. The reason was a linkage issue related with pharmaceutical products.
Chile relied inappropriately on undisclosed test and other data submitted in connection
with the approval of innovative drug products in order to approve generic versions of
these drugs. (Roffe, 2007) Chile was attempting to give their citizens an accessible
product price, but United States did not see it well. The allegations made by Chiles major
trading partners are not based on hard evidence or data, nor on transgressions that have
been authoritatively established by judicial or administrative bodies. The EUs
conclusions on Chile are based on surveys or speculations of selected firms operating in
the country, while the conclusions reached by USTR are based on reports prepared by
interested firms that use diplomatic and media channels to pursue their claims (Roffe,
2007). Actually, for several years, powerful industries, such as the International
Intellectual Property Alliance and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of
America, have repeatedly called on USTR to add Chile to the Priority Watch List.
In the 2010, the US Trade Representative (USTR) placed Chile for the fifth time in the
Priority Watch List, but Chile made an accurate allegation, the USTR did not include the
important progress done throughout the government of the former president Sebastian
Piera. The improvements included:

The approval of international trades related with satellites signals intellectual

property.
A third trade corresponding to plants protection
The approval of the intellectual property reform
An improvement project for pharmaceutical patents

The Chilean government expected to be in the status spending category, were the USTR
recognizes the improvements done by Chile, but this was not the case; in fact, they exhibit
a significant concern related to the FTA agreement in the defense of the avoidance of
technological protection measurements. Chile started to update its IP regimes long before
the entry into force of the TRIPS Agreement. In 1970, it promulgated a new copyright law
(amended in 2004) and in 1991 was the first Latin American country to recognize
patenting for pharmaceutical products. (Roffe, 2007) Even with this backgrounds the
country could not escape from the US Watch List.
United States copyright industry is compelling several countries to improve their security
copyright systems, threatening the continuity of trade agreements made with those
countries with non-substantial background evidence. Even Chile, which is considered as
one of the best performing countries in economic policies and democratization terms, is
classified as a transgressor, but this US classification of Chile corroborates the excessive
control of the copyright industry and the gaps in the international IP system, which
includes the lack of clear evaluating procedures. This gap is particularly worrisome
because it leaves countries vulnerable to a wide range of allegations of misbehavior,
which can cause considerable damage to their international reputation making them look
like a major transgressor of international rules.

Bibliography
Ben Cato Clough, L. U. (Director). (2010). When Copyright goes bad [Motion
Picture].
Office of the United State Trade Representative. (2016). Special 301 Report.
Washington: Office of the United States Trade Representative.
Roffe, P. (2007, April). Bridges News: Bridges Monthly PDF Archive. Retrieved
from International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development Web site:
http://www.ictsd.org/sites/default/files/news/2009/03/bridges11-2.pdf
Univision.com. (2013, May 1). Argentina, Chile y Venezuela en la lista negra de
EEUU por piratera. Retrieved from www.univision.com:
http://www.univision.com/noticias/noticias-de-latinoamerica/argentina-chile-yvenezuela-en-la-lista-negra-de-eeuu-por-pirateria