(C) SPECIAL 301: AMBASSADOR PRESSES FONMIN FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 000762 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARP TUNIS FOR NATALIE BROWN E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2014 TAGS: PREL KIPR KU SUBJECT: (C) SPECIAL 301: AMBASSADOR PRESSES FONMIN FOR PROGRESS Classified By: AMB. RICHARD H. JONES; REASON 1.4 (B, D) ¶1. (C) Ambassador met March 6 with Foreign Minister Shaykh Dr. Mohammed al-Sabah (other topics septels). During the meeting, he informed the Minister that our required annual report on Special 301 will show Kuwait as the weakest of the GCC states when it comes to protection of intellectual property rights (IPR),particularly copyrights and trademarks. The Minister, citing Microsoft officials, retorted that he understood the Dubai area was far worse. He claimed that most of the pirated copies in Kuwait come from Djebel Ali, "a real pirate's den." ¶2. (C) The Ambassador replied that the UAE has made rapid progress in the past few years, so much so that some American manufacturers are now opening plants there. By contrast, the Ambassador went on, some Kuwaiti artists had told him they refused to publish here because piracy is so prevalent. He noted that he had raised this issue with Minister of Information Mohammed Abulhassan during his first call on him last July; while Abulhassan had acknowledged the problem, the Embassy was forced to conclude it was getting worse: software piracy in small/medium enterprises exceeds 90 percent; the optical piracy rate is the highest in the region; the GOK has not replied to our requests for updates on the Copyright Law and the status of WIPO treaties. JONES