The non-governmental organisation USA for Innovation on Monday released an open letter sent to US officials to remind them of the importance of intellectual property (IP) to the US economy and to encourage them to use this week's visit by Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla to confront the recent threats by Thailand to seize patents owned by American companies.

The letter was sent to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Commerce Secretary Carlos M Gutierrez, Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael O Leavitt and US Trade Representative (USTR) Susan C Schwab.

Earlier this month and in anticipation of its Special 301 Report annually issued at the end of April, the USTR said that Thailand continued to suffer from "widespread commercial IPR [intellectual property rights] counterfeiting and piracy".

The NGO's open letter said the Thai military regime, which assumed power last September, had now introduced direct government theft of American innovation into the quickly deteriorating US-Thailand relationship through its theft of the intellectual property 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.

In the letter, USA for Innovation urges the US government to educate the new Thai government on the consequences of its endorsement of dismantling IP protection when Mongkol visits Washington for high-level government-to-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.

"Our letter sends a clear message to the US government about the importance of protecting American IP from theft by the government of Thailand," said Ken Adelman, executive director of USA for Innovation and a former US ambassador to the United Nations. "We encourage Thailand to reconsider the compulsory licence of American products. Moving forward would represent a further weakening of the US-Thai partnership and raises the possibility of US retaliation against the Kingdom."

"This latest action is so disturbing because it comes from the Thai government," Adelman said. "Theft of American innovations by vendors on the streets of Bangkok is bad enough. Sanctioning, endorsing and promoting to other countries a movement to steal US assets in public healthcare systems around the world is something else entirely. It especially hurts coming from a long-standing ally of the United States."

A scholarly paper commissioned by USA for Innovation found intellectual property squarely at the heart of American economic growth. "The Economic Value of Intellectual Property" by economists Dr Robert Shapiro and Dr Kevin Hassett quantifies the value of American intellectual property at US$5 trillion-$5.5 trillion (Bt175 trillion-Bt192.5 trillion), equivalent to about 45 per cent of US gross domestic product and greater than the GDP of any other nation.