[Ip-health] IP-Watch: Industry, Intergovernmental Organizations Launch Global Anti-Piracy Blitz

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

<SNIP>

WIPO Director General Kamil Idris, who is from Sudan, called the event
an =93ideal opportunity to raise public awareness=94 about the problems of
counterfeiting and piracy, which undermine the =93social fabric=94 and
carry =93human costs.=94 Idris, who has made IP protection a central tenet
of his 8-year tenure, said WIPO=92s =93central message=94 is that =93human
creativity and innovation, developed and exploited through an efficient
intellectual property system=94 is the best way.

Idris said there is increasing political will at the national level to
improve IP protection in countries=92 own interest. He said WIPO is =93at
the heart=94 of national, regional and international efforts to set
standards for IP protection, and touted its work such as the advisory
committee on enforcement, responding to requests for legal assistance
and extensive training programmes.


<SNIP>

At the press conference, a question was raised about the absence of
consumer organisations on the panels. Danet replied that journalists
=93ask good questions,=94 but said industry and international organisations
=93are opening to consumer organisations.=94 A WIPO organiser told media
that the focus is not on broader questions of IP rights, but rather on
commercial scale problems.

But Wright asserted, =93Consumer organisations would be violently in
agreement with everything said in this meeting,=94 as they are =93very
concerned=94 with product testing and approval to give assurance the
product they purchase is as advertised.



---------------------

http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=3D519&res=3D1024_ff&print=3D0

31/1/2007
Industry, Intergovernmental Organizations Launch Global Anti-Piracy
Blitz

By William New

Multinational companies have long complained about cheap, dangerous
knock-offs of their products undermining their profits and reputation,
but in a two-day annual high-level gathering along with key
intergovernmental organisations this week, they have taken the
anti-piracy and counterfeiting campaign to new heights.

Industry and the organisations have seized upon ties to organised crime
and the health and safety risks to individuals of fake products as a
focal point as they put greater resources, pressure and effort into
changing laws and public perception to be more supportive of their
concerns.

But the top-level business executives, government and intergovernmental
officials were not joined on the panels by representatives of the
public, and may have been speaking largely to a room of likeminded
people.

The third Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy, being
held this year in Geneva on 30-31 January, is co-hosted by the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), World Customs Union and
Interpol.

WIPO Director General Kamil Idris, who is from Sudan, called the event
an =93ideal opportunity to raise public awareness=94 about the problems of
counterfeiting and piracy, which undermine the =93social fabric=94 and
carry =93human costs.=94 Idris, who has made IP protection a central tenet
of his 8-year tenure, said WIPO=92s =93central message=94 is that =93human
creativity and innovation, developed and exploited through an efficient
intellectual property system=94 is the best way.

Idris said there is increasing political will at the national level to
improve IP protection in countries=92 own interest. He said WIPO is =93at
the heart=94 of national, regional and international efforts to set
standards for IP protection, and touted its work such as the advisory
committee on enforcement, responding to requests for legal assistance
and extensive training programmes.

Christoph Blocher, federal councillor at the Swiss Federal Department
of Justice and Police, said counterfeiting is conducted by
=93well-organised criminal gangs=94 and requires cooperation among
stakeholders. He described efforts to reform Swiss law on intangible
property to stop transit of illegal goods and give greater flexibility
to Swiss customs officials, plus strengthen penalties.

Ronald Noble, secretary general at the International Criminal Police
Organization (Interpol) said the group is creating a database on
international intellectual property crime, will help gather info and
make easier to share.

On the risk of profits from counterfeits going to terrorists, Noble
said, =93We need to believe and recognise it as a real risk=94 since they
use other illegal profitable channels such as drugs.

IP crime is a =93serious threat that requires urgent action,=94 said Noble,
who described three initiatives, beginning with data collection and
exchange. Interpol makes intelligence available to all law enforcement
worldwide through a secure network. The database will focus, among
other things, on trafficking routes, and allow that entries into the
database automatically queries into other databases to look for
matches.

The second initiative is global cooperation against counterfeit
pharmaceuticals. =93Fake drugs kill thousands of people per year,=94 he
said. Finally, the group will establish global anticrime centres for
intelligence, data collection and training, with one specialising in IP
crime.

Michel Danet, secretary general of the World Customs Organization, said
it will announce 60 to 70 measures against counterfeiting and piracy at
its June annual meeting. The measures may be =93unpopular=94 and will cut
across areas such as exporting, transit operations, and free zones, he
said. WCO also will hold a series of seminars worldwide, and will
target 60 countries with no counterfeiting or piracy legislation to
help them draft legislation working with European governments. It also
will set up a fund for capacity-building, and will seek to raise the
issue on the agendas of multilateral groups like the Group of Eight or
the Group of 77.

Danet told a press conference that low-priced counterfeits may be used
for money-laundering by organised crime.

Industry Groups Merge Anti-Piracy Efforts

Industry efforts formed to fight counterfeiting and piracy did what
industry does best when it wants to increase its impact: merge. The
Global Business Leaders Alliance Against Counterfeiting (GBLAAC)
announced at the meeting that it has joined the International Chamber
of Commerce=92s Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy
(BASCAP) to create a larger group under the BASCAP name.

Meanwhile, in her presentation, Dee Ann Weldon-Wilson, president of the
International Trademark Association (INTA), called for new solutions.
INTA has three proposals, she said: To harmonise criminal laws across
the world so as to raise basic standards of enforcement against all
aspects of criminal activity; to urge national governments to pass laws
and regulations to stop transhipment through their countries; and for
governments and the private sector to continue their campaign to build
awareness of the problem.

Guy Sebban, secretary general of the International Chamber of Commerce,
said BASCAP=92s plans for 2007 include three lines of action. These
include: the continuation of raising awareness; and working with
governments, not on passing the right legislation, but rather to focus
on enforcement of existing laws =93or of laws not yet in place.=94

The third action will be a long-term effort to change public perception
about counterfeiting and piracy, as the public is currently not in
favour of protection. Industry will try to do this by putting more
focus on the harmful safety and health aspects and ties to organised
crime, Sebban said. =93By saying that more often and more loudly, we have
the possibility=94 of reaching a larger number of people, he said. And to
win developing country support, more emphasis will be placed on the
limitations it puts on technology transfer, he added. This could be
seen as a threat by some developing countries.

Bernd Pfaffenbach, secretary of state at the German Federal Ministry of
Economics and Technology, highlighted the importance of the issue for
Germany itself as well as in the country=92s role in the presidency of
the European Union until July, and as host of the upcoming meeting of
the Group of Eight industrialised nations. In particular, the subject
is =93very high on the agenda=94 of the G-8, he said. Germany will seek to
bring more industry views into the G-8, but did not mention the views
of the public.

Draft OECD Study Shows New Data on Economic Impact

Preliminary results from a study by the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) presented at the Congress support
industry=92s claims. It shows that counterfeiting and piracy are
occurring in virtually every economy, with 27 OECD countries were cited
as sources for fakes. But five Asian countries =96 China, Thailand, Hong
Kong, Korea and Malaysia =96 were the origin of nearly 60 percent of
seizures of illegal products. The early findings were presented by John
Dryden, deputy director for science, technology and industry.

Other preliminary findings are that distribution is increasingly
infiltrating legitimate supply chains, including established retail
shops. The Internet and free shipping zones also are key contributors.
Also found was that consumption patterns vary. For instance, the Middle
East buys a significant portion of counterfeit automotive parts, and
Africa is a major destination for counterfeit pharmaceuticals.

The scope of products is =93broad and expanding,=94 according to surveys
conducted with industry and public authorities. Textiles were the
common target for counterfeit (30 percent), followed by machinery
equipment (17 percent). =93What is striking in a closer examination of
the data is the number of products that could pose health and safety
risks,=94 Dryden said. This should bolster industry efforts to win more
public support for its fight.

OECD said evaluation is difficult as data continues to be sketchy. The
conservative estimate OECD came up with is that counterfeit and pirated
goods traded internationally account for US$176 billion, which is about
2.4 percent of world trade in manufactures. The study is due to be
public in May.

Xiong Xuanguo, vice president of the People=92s Supreme Court in China,
described the country=92s system and said it is working. But he
acknowledged that in some regions there remain =93outstanding problems=94
as the local economies and societies develop. He cited a need for
improvements in laws and enforcement, with the Supreme Court making
changes to bolster punishment and standardisation of enforcement. In
addition, greater transparency of activities will be added, with more
sharing of information on judgments, and an increase in transnational
exchanges.

WTO Work on IP Enforcement

Rufus Yerxa, deputy director general at the World Trade Organization,
described how IP enforcement is addressed at the WTO, including through
the Council on the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPS). Members=92 IP enforcement is examined in a
review process, and a TRIPS provision allows members to ask others for
more information about their IP protection (recently used by the United
States and Switzerland with China).

Yerxa also cited the =93easily overlooked=94 TRIPS Article 69 under which
members agree to cooperate to eliminate infringing goods. The WTO
dispute settlement system has not seen much activity relating to IP
violations, he said, and the few complaints that have appeared there
have ended in amicable settlements. Many smaller WTO members have not
yet been required to implement TRIPS.

Yerxa said some members such as Japan, European Union and the United
States, have mentioned piracy and counterfeiting concerns to the TRIPS
Council. The US recently made a new submission on modern seizure
methods, he said. But other members argue that the enforcement issue is
not appropriate for the council, arguing for instance, that the WIPO
enforcement advisory committee might be better, he said. WTO
cooperation with WIPO is =93particularly intensive,=94 Yerxa said.

Michael Keplinger, WIPO deputy director general for copyright and
related rights, discussed how =93rapid technological development
facilitates wholesale piracy.=94 Among WIPO activities were some 50 IP
enforcement training events in 2005-2006, he said. Keplinger mentioned
WIPO negotiations for a treaty on protection of broadcasters=92 signals.

Eckhart Guth, head of delegation of the European Commission to UN
international organisations, highlighted the problem of broadcasting
signal theft, especially relating to sports programming.

Lobbying Message

Bob Wright, vice chairman of General Electric and chairman and CEO of
NBC Universal, said attendees must work to move intellectual property
protection to the =93absolute top of the public policy agenda.=94 They must
also bring key private sector players into the fight.

The message, Wright said, should be that IP protection is critical for
any nation=92s economic growth, that piracy and counterfeiting threaten
health and safety, and that it is massive in scale and involves
organised crime, requiring changes in strategy and resources for law
enforcement.

Wright said it is important for the public to understand that
purchasing pirated or counterfeited products is =93not an victimless
crime, and that they themselves may be the victim.=94 In a press
conference, Wright defended China=92s system and said protection would
increase there once the country has enough of its own intellectual
property to protect.

=93Where Are the Consumer Organisations?=94

At the press conference, a question was raised about the absence of
consumer organisations on the panels. Danet replied that journalists
=93ask good questions,=94 but said industry and international organisations
=93are opening to consumer organisations.=94 A WIPO organiser told media
that the focus is not on broader questions of IP rights, but rather on
commercial scale problems.

But Wright asserted, =93Consumer organisations would be violently in
agreement with everything said in this meeting,=94 as they are =93very
concerned=94 with product testing and approval to give assurance the
product they purchase is as advertised.



------------
Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
CPTech
voice +41.22.791.6727
fax +41.22.723.2988
mobile +41 76 508 0997
thiru@cptech.org