Transcript ENFORCEMENT OF IP RIGHTS: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES Wolfgang Starein Director Enforcement and Special Projects Division World Intellectual Property Organization International Seminar on Product Safety and Counterfeiting UNECE.

ENFORCEMENT OF IP RIGHTS:
CHALLENGES AND
OPPORTUNITIES
Wolfgang Starein
Director
Enforcement and Special Projects Division
World Intellectual Property Organization
International Seminar on Product Safety and Counterfeiting
UNECE
Role of WIPO in the Field of
Enforcement of IP Rights
• The Enforcement and Special Projects Division;
• The Advisory Committee on Enforcement (ACE);
• WIPO’s activities in the area of enforcement
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including the combat of counterfeiting and piracy;
Main objective to assist Member States in
strengthening their IP enforcement systems and
infrastructure and support an informed policy debate
at the international level;
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Enforcement and Special Project Division
Key strategies
• Raising the awareness of Governments of the important role of
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effective IP protection and enforcement for economic and
social development;
Fostering strategic partnerships and joint activities with other
IGOs and NGOs to bundle resources and expertise;
Strengthen cooperation and coordination between public and
private sector and among different government institutions to
make IP enforcement action more coherent and effective;
Render advice on, and assistance in , the implementation of
efficient national, sub-regional and regional IP enforcement;
Provide information and training to improve knowledge and
experience of law enforcement officials in handling
enforcement matters;Geneva, November 5, 2007
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The Advisory Committee on
Enforcement (ACE)
• One single Committee in charge of global
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enforcement issues since 2002
The mandate of the ACE:
– Coordination with certain organizations and the
private sector to combat counterfeiting and piracy;
– Technical assistance;
– Public education and coordination of national and
regional training;
– Exchange of information;
– Excludes norm setting;
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ACE sessions (I)
• First session agreed on a thematic approach with
presentation by experts and noted the establishment
of an electronic forum on IP enforcement issues and
strategies, June 2003;
• Second session addressed the role of judiciary, quasijudiciary authorities and prosecution in the
enforcement of IP rights as well as related issues such
as specialization of the judiciary and litigation costs,
June 2004; (Supreme Court Judges and senior
Government officials presented papers)
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ACE Sessions (II)
• Third session discussed the theme of education and
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awareness building, including training, concerning all
factors related to enforcement, May 2006;
(presentations on activities and experiences of
selected countries from all regions)
Fourth session considered an exchange of views on
cooperation and coordination at the international,
regional and national levels in the field of
enforcement and focus on relevant issues of criminal
enforcement of IP rights, November 1 and 2, 2007;
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Cooperation and coordination in the field
of enforcement of IP rights
Within the mandate of the ACE:
• A prominent role in coordinating international efforts to
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combat counterfeiting and piracy:
– Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy;
– OECD - Measuring the economic impact of counterfeiting
and piracy;
– Interpol and WCO – the Interpol IPR Crime Action Group
and the WCO IPR Strategic Group;
– WHO, IMPACT project on counterfeit medicines;
– G8 IPR Experts Group’s meetings;
Several consultation meetings and briefings with senior
members of the judiciary and high-level government officials;
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Economic impact and health and safety
risks
• OECD study (June 2007) indicates that international trade in counterfeit
and pirated products could have been up to USD 200 billion in 2005;
• Health and safety risks occur in the: automotive, electrical components,
food and drink, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and tobacco products
industries (OECD study, 2007);
• Recent analysis (November 2006) elaborated by WHO with the inputs by
OECD and the Pharmaceutical Security Institute show:
– Many developing countries of Africa, parts of Asia and parts of Latin
America have areas where more that 30% of the medicines on sale can
be counterfeit;
– Medicines purchased over the Internet from sites that conceal their
actual physical address are counterfeit in over 50% of cases;
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Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and
Piracy
http://www.ccapcongress.net
• Objectives: high-level public/private partnership to
more effectively combat counterfeiting and piracy;
raise the issue on the global political and business
agenda; generate conditions which will lead to
greater investment in anti-counterfeiting and antipiracy measures;
• Three IGOs, WIPO, the World Customs Organizations (WCO)
and Interpol, are co-organizers;
• Private sector partners are: ICC, INTA and ISMA;
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Global Congress events
• First Global Congress hosted by WCO in Brussels, May 2004;
– Regional forums were organized in: Rome, October 2004, Shanghai,
November 2004, Rio de Janeiro, June 2005;
• Second Global Congress hosted by Interpol in Lyon, November 2005;
– Regional Congress was organized in Bucharest, July 2006;
• Third Global Congress hosted by WIPO in Geneva, January 2007;
• Fourth Global Congress scheduled for February 3 to 5, 2008 in Dubai,
United Arab Emirates;
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Third Global Congress
http://www.wipo.int/enforcement/en/global_congress
• Theme: “Shared Challenges-Common Goals”;
• Structure of the program: focus areas (Enhancing
cooperation and coordination; Promoting better
legislation and enforcement; Building capacity;
Raising awareness and panel discussions (Health and
Safety risks and Moving forward);
• Over 1,000 participants from 105 countries
representing the public and the private sector;
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Third Global Congress (II)
• Third Global analyzed the progress made and the
remaining challenges in the four priority areas
developed at the Second Global Congress and in the
field of health and safety risks;
• Collected and examined suggestions how to more
effectively combat counterfeiting and piracy;
• Delegates and Congress Steering Group highlighted a
number of items for further discussion and possible
action;
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Legal assistance
Upon request by Member States:
• Comments on draft laws and advice in areas of
substantive intellectual property law and intellectual
property law enforcement (Part III of the TRIPS
Agreement, other Treaties administered by WIPO);
• Discussions with Member States on how to
implement enforcement strategies and effective
enforcement mechanisms embracing suggestions on
legislative and /or possible procedural amendments in
order to render the IP rights enforcement more
effective at national level;
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Training at national and regional level
http://www.wipo.int/enforcement/en/activities
• Training programs-designed to meet the
interests of judges, magistrates, customs and
police officials, experts from IP Offices, IP
attorneys, representatives from the business
community and consumers groups were
organized in all regions in cooperation with
national authorities, other IGOs and NGOs as
well as with other sectors of WIPO;
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Case books and studies
• Case books-providing practical tools for handling IP
disputes especially for judges and lawyers from
common law countries prepared by Justice Harms
and made available in December 2005, now in
process of updating, and from civil law countries
prepared by Judge Marais and Attorney Lachacinski;
• Studies-a comparative study on criminal enforcement
of IP rights that served as background document for
the fourth session of the ACE;
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Exchange of information
• For the purpose of providing a source of information on the
current global developments in the field of enforcement, the
ESPD makes available, on a quarterly basis , enforcement
newsletters at:
(http://www.wipo.int/enforcement/en/news.html);
• Following the request of a number of Member States to
facilitate access to information on IP enforcement issues at
national and regional level available on their websites, the link
Portal to Member States online information was set up in
March on the ESPD’s website at:
http://www.wipo.int/enforcement/en/member_states.html)
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Opportunities
Create favorable conditions for local industries and
foreign direct investments as well as improve
consumers protection against health and safety risks
through:
– Introduction and effective implementation of enforcement
provisions that will increase the respect of IP rights;
– More enforcement resources, better trained and skilled
staff;
– Improved and increased cooperation and communication
among government agencies, global, regional and national
organizations, where appropriate in partnership with the
private sector;
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Thank you!
[email protected]
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