These guys are even worse then the Chinese when it comes to IP laws.

Venezuela aims to cancel drug patents, make own medicines

Venezuelan officials plan to invalidate some pharmaceutical patents and allow domestic manufacturers to produce licensed medicines, an action that could cause shortages and scare off foreign investment, the Associated Press reports.

Edgar Salas, president of Venezuela's pharmaceutical business chamber, warned that abolishing patents could prompt the world's largest drug manufacturers to stop exporting medicines to Venezuela.

"This could create obstacles to importing the newest medicines," Salas said.

Commerce Minister Eduardo Saman — a close confidant of President Hugo Chavez — announced on Saturday that Venezuela's government would annul patents on some medicines under a reform of existing intellectual property laws.

Saman said the measure is aimed at making the interests of powerful drug companies secondary to the needs of Venezuelans suffering from diseases such as cancer or AIDS.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hots...91098.html