US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV1271

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 001271 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR EB/IPE SWILSON AND NEA/IP GLOGERFO; DEPARTMENT PASS TO 
USTR CNOVELLI AND ESAUMS; DOC JBOGER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/03/2010 
TAGS: ETRD, IS, KIPR, ECONOMY AND FINANCE, LABOR AND COMMERCE, U.S.-ISRAEL RELATIONS 
SUBJECT: (C)  IPR: ISRAEL TO PURSUE LEGISLATION ON PATENTS 
AND IPR 
 
 
1.  (C)  Minister of Industry and Trade Ehud Olmert called 
the Ambassador March 3 to say that the government will push 
ahead with pending legislation on patents and IPR.  Since the 
legislation is attached to the budget bill, Olmert expected 
it to be adopted on March 16.  In conveying this message, 
Olmert said he was frustrated that USTR had scheduled a 
video-teleconference on the outstanding data exclusivity 
issues on March 17.  Olmert noted that, if the negotiations 
with USTR produce an agreed outcome, the GOI will amend its 
legislation accordingly. 
 
2.  (C)  Ambassador said that Olmert has put the cart before 
the horse and that the GOI's decision to press ahead with the 
legislation appeared to render the March 17 negotiation 
meaningless.  If it was as easy to amend the legislation as 
Olmert suggested, the Ambassador said it should be equally 
easy to hold off adopting the legislation and then deciding 
after March 17 whether to move forward. 
 
3.  (C)  Olmert pushed back, saying that he had waited many 
weeks for a response from USTR and that, once the response 
had been delivered, it indicated no new ideas on the part of 
the USG with respect to the outstanding issues.  Olmert 
repeated a familiar theme, that he had believed agreement had 
been reached last autumn with then-USTR Ambassador Zoellick, 
and the fact that the USG had pulled back from this agreement 
only added to his frustration. 
 
4.  (C)  Comment: Unless we can signal to Olmert that the 
March 17 negotiations are likely to produce agreement -- 
meaning that we will bring new ideas to the table -- we don't 
see the value in pursuing those talks.  If the negotiations 
do go ahead, Israel will come to the table with its position 
enhanced by a new law and with very little to gain from 
compromising on the law's provisions. 
 
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