Thailand is ‘disappointed’ with Washington’s decision to retain the kingdom on its “priority watch list” (PWL) this year due to charges of taking little action to protect US intellectual property rights (IPR), Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said on Sunday. (TNA)
It’s rather surprising to see that the government is surprised… The government apparently was stupid enough to think that the compulsory licences (breaking IP rights of europeans and US pharma companies) was an excellent way to be removed from the “priority watch list” ! 
As usual, it defies the most basic common sense.
It’s time to come back on earth, on the ground.
Promoting a state policy to break the IP rights of US companies is not, I repeat, is not a good way to solve the issue.
Thailand is one of nine countries on this year’s Priority Watch List, which was announced in Washington on Friday. The others are China, Russia, Argentina, Chile, India, Israel, Pakistan and Venezuela.
Only Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey and Ukraine moved to the Watch List from the Priority Watch List.
The government’s reaction to the USTR decision will be conveyed to Washington through US Under-Secretary of Commerce Christopher Padilla today, when he meets the foreign minister and Commerce Minister Mingkwan Sangsuwan.
One of the reasons Thailand is on the list is because of the impact of compulsory licensing on medications, which has upset the pharmaceutical industry in the US.
(Bangkok Post)
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