Top
government officials, business leaders and senior law enforcement
authorities urged national and international political leaders
to engage in the battle against counterfeiting and piracy. The
call for increased action came at the close of the Fourth Global
Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy held in Dubai
from 3-5 February 2008. The international event brought together
over 1,200 delegates from 90 countries and was held under the
patronage of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President
and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ruler
of Dubai. The event was hosted by the World Customs Organization
(WCO) with the support of Dubai Customs.
The Fourth Global Congress was organized to enable participants
to identify actions and solutions to the growing problem of product
counterfeiting and piracy. Along with the WCO, the Congress was
convened by the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL)
and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) with the
cooperation of the world’s business community, represented
by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) through its Business
Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP) initiative,
the International Trademark Association (INTA) and the International
Security Management Association (ISMA). It is the first Congress
held away from the European headquarters of WCO, INTERPOL and
WIPO.
More than 50 speakers from 25 countries delivered proposals for
more effectively combating counterfeiting and piracy around the
general themes of: enhanced cooperation and coordination; improved
legislation and enforcement; the need to increase public and political
awareness of counterfeiting and piracy activities and their associated
economic and social harm; the threat to human health and safety;
the need to develop required legislation and appropriate enforcement
measures to deter and punish traffickers of counterfeit and pirated
goods in free trade zones and transhipment countries; and the
urgent need for concrete and practical solutions to address the
sale of counterfeit and pirated products over the Internet. These
themes will be developed into a series of key recommendations
for specific actions to be released as the Dubai Declaration at
the end of February 2008.
Commenting on the outcome of the Congress, the Director General
of Dubai Customs, Mr. Ahmed Butti Ahmed said that the Congress
had been a great success and represented a platform from which
all concerned stakeholders could work to achieve security for
all. He underlined the importance of high-level political support
in ensuring that progress was made in the battle against counterfeiting
and piracy.
Mr. Michel Danet, Secretary General of the World Customs Organization
and lead co-organizer of this year’s event, applauded the
successful conclusion of the Congress and highlighted the urgency
of dealing with counterfeiting and piracy around the world. He
said that strong political will and commitment such as that demonstrated
by the authorities of Dubai was essential. He spoke of the need
for global legislation to fight the scourge of counterfeiting
and piracy to enable effective implementation of these laws by
police, customs and judicial authorities. Mr. Danet heralded the
partnership that had been established with the private sector
in the context of the first Global Congress which, he said, gave
an impetus to the debate. The private sector was motivated not
only by their desire to protect their intellectual property rights,
but to safeguard the well-being of consumers, he said.
Mr. Michael Keplinger, Deputy Director General of the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO), underlined the importance of the
Congress as a means of raising political and public awareness
of the scale of the problems of counterfeiting and piracy. He
said that the substantive discussions which had taken place would
be the basis of solid and sound recommendations around which it
would be possible to mobilize broad-based support for the future
work of the Congress. He said that WIPO would continue its efforts
to support the development of an effective international legal
framework to safeguard the rights of intellectual property owners.
He added that WIPO was committed to continuing its capacity-building
initiatives and training programs to ensure that countries around
the world were better able to tackle this escalating problem.
Mr. John Newton, responsible for the Intellectual Property crime
program of INTERPOL said that counterfeiting and piracy had infiltrated
every market. He said that the industrial scale of this illicit
trade was clear evidence of the involvement of organized crime,
which was a source of great concern for all. He added that significant
results had already been achieved in regional multi-agency operations
which would provide a platform for further action around the world.
Mr. David Benjamin, Senior Vice President Anti-Piracy for the
Universal Music Group, called for the engagement of all senior
politicians in the battle against counterfeiting and piracy. He
said that counterfeiting and piracy affected all sectors of the
economy where creativity, invention and innovation were important.
He said that more and more of the gross domestic product (GDP)
of all countries was based on intellectual property. He called
for quick action to deal with this widespread problem which was
damaging all economic sectors. “People are dying, creative
communities are being decimated and our cultural heritage is being
strip-mined,” he said.
Mr. Richard Heath, President-Elect of the International Trademark
Association (INTA) and Vice President of Unilever PLC, urged the
maintenance of the public-private partnership that characterized
the Congress. He spoke of the need to raise awareness of the problems
of counterfeiting and piracy at the most senior levels both within
business and government circles. He said that it was necessary
to further raise awareness of the problem and to develop evolving
legal frameworks to effectively meet the challenges. He spoke
of the widespread economic and social damage resulting from the
illicit trade in fake products and underlined the need for punishments
to fit the crime.
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Key
Presentations
Mr. Ahmed
Butti Ahmed, Director General of Dubai Customs
Mr.
Michel Danet – Secretary General World Customs Organization
(WCO)
Mr.
Ronald K. Noble – Secretary General INTERPOL
Mr. Michael
Keplinger – Deputy Director General, World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO)
Mr.
David Benjamin – Co-Chair Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting
and Piracy (BASCAP) and Senior Vice President Anti-Piracy Universal
Music Group
Mr.
Richard Heath – President-Elect International Trademark
Association (INTA) and VP Legal – Global Anti-Counterfeiting
Counsel, Unilever PLC
Mr.
Steve Allen – Senior Director Global Security Europe
Middle East and Africa, Pfizer
Mr. Jorge Amigo – Director General of the
Mexican Institute of Intellectual Property, Mexico
Mr. David
Asante-Apeatu – Director Specialized Crime & Analysis
INTERPOL (speech
| presentation)
Dr. Luiz Paulo Teles Ferreira Barreto –
Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Brazil and President
of the National Council on Combating Piracy and Intellectual Property
Mr.
Marcos Bonturi – Head of the Structural Policy Division
in the Directorate for Science Technology and Industry, Organization
for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD)
Mr.
Sandro Calvani – Director, UN Interregional Crime and
Justice Research Institute (UNICRI)
Baroness
Chalker of Wallasey – Africa Matters Ltd.
Mr.
Jack Chang – Quality Brands Protection Committee (QBPC)
China and Senior IP Counsel GE Asia
Mr.
Noel Colpin – Administrator of Customs & Excise,
Belgium
Mr.
Faisal Daudpota – Past Manager Anti-counterfeiting INTA
and Counsel Al Tamimi & Company
Mr.
Luc-Pierre Devigne – Head of Unit for Public Procurement
and Intellectual Property, directorate General for Trade European
Commission (EC)
Mrs.
Diaz de Vivar -- Director General Customs, Paraguay
Mr.
Daouda Diouf – Director, Société Industrielle
de Générateurs Electriques (S.I.G.ELEC), Senegal
Mr.
David Finn – Associate General Counsel Worldwide Anti-Piracy
and Anti-Counterfeiting, Microsoft
Mr Jacques Franquet – Security Vice President
Sanofi-Aventis
Mr. Mohammed
Al Haif – Director, GCC Customs Union Department, GCC General
Secretariat
Mr.
Jeff Hardy – International Chamber of Commerce, BASCAP
Coordinator
Mr.
Ashley How – European Director, Pharmaceutical Security
Institute (PSI)
Mr.
David Howard – Chairman International Authentication
Association (IAA) and Director, Product Protection, Global Brand
Integrity, Johnson & Johnson Medical Device & Diagnostics
Mr.
Len Hynds – Head of Enforcement, International Federation
of Phonographic Industries (IFPI)
Mr.
Marc-Antoine Jamet – Chairman Union des Fabricants (UdF)
Mr.
Giovanni Kessler – High Commissioner to Combat Counterfeiting
& Piracy, Italy
Mr.
Masakatsu Koike – Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Japan
Mr.
Bilal Khan – Customs and Airmail Expert, International
Bureau, Universal Postal Union
Mr.
KHOO Boon Hui – Commissioner of Police, Singapore and
INTERPOL Executive Committee Member and Vice-President for Asia
Mr. Bruce Longbottom – Associate General
Counsel, Trademarks, Copyrights & Information Technology,
Eli Lilly and Company
Ms.
Nathalie Moullé-Berteaux – Director of Global
Intellectual Property for the Fashion and Leather Goods Division
of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton
Mr. Richard
Nessary – Associate General Counsel, eBay Inc.
Mr.
Wayne Paugh – Deputy U.S. Coordinator for International
Intellectual Property Enforcement, U.S. Department of Commerce
Mr. Nick Proctor
– Representative International Security Management Association
(ISMA) and Head of Global Security, British America Tobacco
Mr.
Marco Pautasso – Acting Director-Advisor, Technical
Assistance and Capacity Building Sector, WIPO
Ms.
Paula Nelson – Vice President and General Counsel (Intellectual
Property), Nestlé S.A.
Mr.
John Newton – Project Manager IP Rights Project, INTERPOL
Mr. Michael
Prideaux – Director Corporate & Regulatory Affairs,
British American Tobacco
Mr.
Pushpendra Rai – Acting Director, Intellectual Property
and Economic Development Division, WIPO
Dr.
Valerio Reggi – Executive Secretary IMPACT initiative,
World Health Organization
Mr.
Rocky Rowe – Adviser Trade Issues, European Crop Protection
Association
Mr.
Michael Schmitz – Director Enforcement & Facilitation,
WCO
Mr.
Omar Shteiwi – Chair Brand Protection Group (Dubai)
and Regional Intellectual Property Adviser, Nestle
Dr.
Ana Lúcia Gomes Soares – Executive Secretary
of the National Council on Combating Piracy and Intellectual Property,
Brazil
Mr. Wolfgang Starein – Director Enforcement
and Special Projects, WIPO
His
Excellent Sultan Bin Sulayem – Chairman Dubai World
Mr. John Tarpey – Director Global Communications,
WIPO
Mr.
Jeff Vandekerckhove – Chair of the WCO SECURE Working
Group and Vice President IP Creation and Counseling, Trademarks,
Designs & Domain Names, Philips Intellectual Property Rights
and Standards
Mr.
Wang Zhi Guang -- Director IP Division of Economic Crime Investigation,
Deptartment of the Ministry of Public Security, China
Mr.
Zhu Gaozhang – Director General of International Cooperation
of General Administration of China Customs
Mr. Jan Zijderveld –Chair of Unilever Middle
East & Africa and current Chairman of the GCC Advertisers
Association
Mr.
Christophe Zimmermann – Co-ordinator for the Fight against
Counterfeiting and Piracy, WCO
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