WIPO IP Enforcement News: April - June 2005

ANNOUNCEMENT: THIRD SESSION OF THE WIPO ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON ENFORCEMENT (ACE), APRIL 24-27, 2006

The third session of the ACE will be held from April 24-27, 2006, at WIPO’s headquarters in Geneva. As concluded at its second session (see document ACE/2/13), the third session will address the issue of education and awareness-building, including training, in all areas of enforcement, with a particular focus on areas of common concern as reflected in requests for assistance by member states. The draft agenda and other documents will be made available in due course.

All documents of the second session are available online in English, French, and Spanish, as well as, partly, in Arabic and Russian, at http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=5662

SELECTED WIPO ACTIVITIES

TRAINING

The most recent WIPO training sessions addressing the enforcement of intellectual property rights, at the attention of, in particular, judges, officials from intellectual property offices, customs and police officials, the legal fraternity, as well as the business community, included:

WIPO national seminar on counterfeiting and piracy in the audiovisual domain,
Rabat (Morocco), April 5-6, 2005;
WIPO Regional Training Course on Trademarks for Officials of Caribbean Intellectual Property Offices, Kingston (Jamaica), June 6-10, 2005
Workshop on the enforcement of IP rights, Banská Bystrica (Slovakia), June 29–30, 2005, organized in the framework of WIPO’s cooperation with the European Commission, DG Enlargement, under the TAIEX program.

A regular update on WIPO’s training and awareness-raising activities in the area of intellectual property enforcement is made available on the WIPO enforcement website, see
http://www.wipo.int/enforcement/en/activities/

WIPO ONLINE FORUM ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

WIPO hosted, from June 1 to 15, 2005, the WIPO Online Forum on Intellectual Property in the Information Society, designed to enable and encourage an open debate on a wide range of issues related to intellectual property in the information society, and in light of the goals of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The conclusions of the Online Forum will form part of WIPO’s contribution to the WSIS Tunis Summit. The topics for discussion were divided up into 10 themes; theme 10 specifically addressing the challenges for enforcement of intellectual property rights in the digital environment. An introduction to the theme, setting out some key issues relating to an effective adjudication of IP related disputes, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms (ADR) and enforcement by technological protection measures (TPM), as well as references to background material and the comments received, are posted online at
http://www.wipo.int/roller/comments/ipisforum/Weblog/theme_ten_what_are_the

GLOBAL CONGRESS ON COMBATING COUNTERFEITING:

(1) LATIN AMERICA REGIONAL FORUM

In the framework of the close cooperation among the partners of the Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting, a Latin America Regional Congress was hosted by the Brazilian Federal Government and Interpol, with the support and participation of the World Customs Organization (WCO) and WIPO, and in cooperation with private entities, in Rio de Janeiro from June 13-14, 2005. The forum was attended by more than 400 senior law enforcement and government officials, as well as industry stakeholders, from eight South American countries. Delegates to the Forum adopted the “Rio Declaration”, which recommends a series of steps to enhance the effectiveness of the fight against counterfeiting in the region, calling, inter alia, for better cooperation between the various stakeholders, as well as updated legislation in a number of areas.

The Rio Declaration is available online at
http://www.wcoomd.org/ie/En/Press/Rio%20Declaration%20Final%20Draft.pdf

(2) ANNOUNCEMENT: SECOND GLOBAL CONGRESS

The Second Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting will be held on November 14-15, 2005, in Lyon/France. Detailed information will be made available in due course.

LINKS

JAPAN: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY HIGH COURT

On April 1, 2005, the Japan Intellectual Property High Court, a special branch within the Tokyo High Court, took up its duties. The court hears suits against appeal/trial decisions made by the Japan Patent Office (JPO), as the court of first instance, and civil cases relating to intellectual property as the court of second instance. Information on the court and its jurisdiction, as well as background material, is made available on a special court website, in Japanese and English, at
http://www.ip.courts.go.jp/eng/index.html

KENIA: NEW ANTI-COUNTERFEITING BILL PROPOSED

The Kenyan Ministry of Trade and Industry made available on its website information concerning the current work on an Anti-Counterfeiting Bill in Kenya which would set new standards for criminal sanctions in this field. The information also addresses the ongoing discussion on the envisaged harmonization of anti-piracy laws in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The three countries are members of the East African Community Customs Union; under the relevant legislation of the Union counterfeits are declared prohibited goods. See website of the Ministry at
http://www.tradeandindustry.go.ke/news.asp?ID=13

US: ONLINE-INFORMATION ABOUT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE “STRATEGY TARGETING ORGANIZED PIRACY (STOP)” INITIATIVE

The government-wide STOP! initiative, announced in October 2004, publishes a set of updated information related to the progress made in the framework of this initiative on its website as well as overall enforcement of intellectual property laws in the US. In that context, it offers a link to a sample of prosecuted criminal cases under the US intellectual property statutes as well as seizure statistics at the US borders. See
http://www.stopfakes.gov/stop_fakes_gov/enforcement/enforcement.asp#recent

HAGUE CONFERENCE ON PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW: CONVENTION ON EXCLUSIVE CHOICE OF COURT AGREEMENTS ADOPTED

The Twentieth Ordinary Session of the Hague Conference on Private International Law was held from June 14-30, 2005. Commission II of this session discussed the Draft Hague Convention on Exclusive Choice of Court Agreements and adopted the final text. The Convention, which will apply to B2B-contracts only, aims to set new legal standards for jurisdiction, where courts are designated in exclusive forum selection clauses, as well as recognition and enforcement of judgments rendered by courts thus designated. With reference to disputes involving intellectual property matters, the Convention sets out specific rules, both as regards the scope of application, and, with a view to judgments based on the validity of intellectual property rights (other than copyright and related rights), the recognition and enforcement of judgments. The Convention provides for an opt-out mechanism for specific matters in which a State has a strong interest.

The final text, as well as contributions made to the draft text by Member States and Observers including WIPO, and further information material, is available at the website of the Hague Conference at
http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=conventions.pdf&cid=98 (final text)
http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=progress.listing&cat=4

ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC): ANTI-COUNTERFEITING AND PIRACY INITIATIVE / IP ENFORCEMENT ONLINE DATABASE

On June 3, 2005, APEC trade ministers endorsed a series of measures aimed at reducing trade in counterfeit and pirated goods as well as online piracy. Concrete steps were proposed, including the development of appropriate legal regimes and guidelines to be used by law enforcement authorities. Further components of the initiative include increased cooperation and information sharing, as well as capacity building through education and training. For more information see the press release at
http://www.apec.org/apec/news___media/media_releases/030605_ipr.html

In addition, the APEC intellectual property rights experts’ group (APEC/IPEG) makes available, on its website, an online database which offers information relating to IP enforcement for each APEC member economy. The information is divided up into various categories, namely customs, police, judiciary, public awareness campaigns, seminars, conferences and training programs. See
http://www.apecipeg.org/enforcement/default.asp

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (AIPPI): WORKING COMMITTEE ON PUNITIVE DAMAGES

One of the AIPPI working groups currently examines a number of questions related to the controversial debate on punitive damages in the area of infringements of intellectual property rights, for consideration by the AIPPI Executive Committee meeting to be held in September 2005. The summary report provides an interesting overview of national laws and judicial practice across 36 countries. The summary report as well as the respective group reports are available online (see “ Question Q 186”) at
http://www.aippi.org/index.html

BUSINESS SOFTWARE ALLIANCE (BSA): 2005 ANNUAL PIRACY STUDY / SPECIAL WEBSITE – ANTI-PIRACY INFORMATION

In May 2005 BSA published its second annual software piracy study. Based on proprietary statistics, interviews and market condition analysis, the results provide a detailed and diverse picture of today’s software piracy. See
http://www.bsa.org/globalstudy/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&pageid=24342&hitboxdone=yes

BSA also runs a special website offering a wide range of information related to software piracy, including various forms of piracy, possible tools and legal issues. See
http://www.bsa.org/usa/antipiracy/

INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE PHONOGRAPHIC INDUSTRY (IFPI): COMMERCIAL PIRACY REPORT 2005

On June 23, 2005, IFPI published its annual commercial piracy report, based on developments in the year 2004. The report is available at
http://www.ifpi.org/site-content/library/piracy2005.pdf

Press release at
http://www.ifpi.org/site-content/press/20050623.html

UNION DES FABRICANTS (UNIFAB): REPORT ON COUNTERFEITING AND ORGANISED CRIME

French anti-counterfeiting association Union des fabricants has made available online its second annual report analyzing the interrelation between counterfeiting and organized crime. The report is published in English and French, see
http://www.unifab.com/publications/cf_organised_crime_2edition.pdf

GUIDEBOOK ON ENFORCEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

This guidebook by Prof. Michael Blakeney of Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute, published in April 2005, gives an overview of some acute issues and developments related to effective IP enforcement. Based on the TRIPS standards, the guidebook also outlines where and how enforcement legislation and/or practices have developed beyond these standards at the national and regional levels, with a focus on recent EU initiatives. The guidebook is available online at
http://trade-info.cec.eu.int/doclib/docs/2005/april/tradoc_122641.pdf