Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04MADRID1108
2004-04-02 09:00:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Madrid
Cable title:  

SPAIN'S INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY TRAINING, NEEDS AND

Tags:  KIPR ETRD ECON SP 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 001108 

SIPDIS

STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR; STATE FOR EB/IPC AREIAS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KIPR ETRD ECON SP
SUBJECT: SPAIN'S INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY TRAINING, NEEDS AND
BEST PRACTICES

REF: Secstate 42798

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 001108

SIPDIS

STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR; STATE FOR EB/IPC AREIAS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KIPR ETRD ECON SP
SUBJECT: SPAIN'S INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY TRAINING, NEEDS AND
BEST PRACTICES

REF: Secstate 42798


1. There is a significant amount of intellectual property
(IP) training and education in Spain sponsored by government
ministries, police entities, and industry groups. To add to
GOS efforts, we have arranged working breakfasts,
roundtables, and lunches with the active participation of
government representatives, police contacts, and
intellectual property professionals to discuss policies and
strategies to combat piracy.


2. Answers are queued to reftel questions:

A.1 N/A

A.2 The Spanish Ministries of Culture (where the Copyright
Office is located) and Science and Technology (where the
Patent and Trademark Office is located,) through an Inter-
Ministerial Intellectual Property Rights Committee have
conducted or sponsored a number of IP-related seminars and
courses to inform and train judges, prosecutors, police, and
experts, and at times, government officials from Latin
America or the EU enlargement countries. The Inter-
Ministerial Committee annual report for 2002 (the latest
available) lists a variety of IP training programs conducted
with GOS involvement. Examples include:

- The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (OEPM is the
acronym in Spanish) arranged a seminar about patent and
trademark law for judges and prosecutors from Latin America.

- The Studies Center for the Development of Investigation,
in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and
Technology, organized a series of 10 conferences to analyze
the impact of new technologies on IP.

- OEPM carried out several different seminars in
collaboration with WIPO and the European Patent Office to
train Latin American officials on legal, administrative and
economic aspects of patent and trademark protection.

- The Ministry of Justice organized a seminar on legal
aspects of IP protection in the EU during Spain's 2002 EU
Presidency.

- Since 1996, the Ministry of Culture has been working with
the Spanish Judiciary Counsel on courses for judges and
prosecutors. Thus far 149 professionals have participated.

- Spanish Customs Officials made presentations at seminars
organized by the EU to help train candidate country
officials on IP issues.

- In 2002 the National Police included intellectual property

issues in training courses in which over one thousand
officers have participated.

IP industry groups in Spain are also extremely active. They
have developed numerous roundtables, seminars and courses
for the police, judges, and/or prosecutors about
intellectual property and piracy, copyright laws, and IP in
the EU. Events take place in all over Spain.

B.1 On a more or less annual basis, the Spanish Association
of Authors and Publishers (Sociedad General de Autores y
Editores, SGAE) conducts a two-day international seminar
about intellectual property rights protection. We attended
the November 2002 seminar and found it extremely effective.
Spanish and international speakers successfully highlighted
the need for fighting piracy. A roundtable about the
activities of the various Spanish police forces against IP
crimes was particularly informative. Members of Parliament
and the then-Minister of Justice also participated. The
effect of the conference was multiplied as the domestic
press carried over a dozen articles on IP issues as a result
of the conference.

B.2 We believe the type of seminar described in B.1 is
especially useful as the high-level participants ensure
diffuse media coverage and a high turnout. More technical
segments are also targeted at the audience of interested IP
industry representatives and government officials.

B.3 In November 2003, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for
Market Access and Compliance, William H. Lash, III, raised
IP issues with senior-level officers at the Ministry of
Culture, at the Presidency of the Government, and the
Ministry of Economy. He also led an IPR roundtable with
industry associations.

In July 2003, Embassy Madrid invited AOL-Time Warner's Vice
President and Associate General Counsel for Intellectual
Property Policy, Shira Perlmutter, and the Vice President
for Legal and Public Policy, Alessandra Silvestri, to
discuss strategies to combat IP piracy with a wide range of
Spanish contacts. One event brought in over 40 senior-level
government officials, lawyers, and private association
representatives. The two speakers also met separately with
eight senior government and law enforcement officials.

In 2000, Embassy Madrid hosted a breakfast roundtable, a
working lunch and a meeting on IPR issues in which over 40
Spaniards participated. Participants were senior-level
representatives from industry associations and the national
government. Deputy Assistant USTR for Intellectual
Property, Claude Burcky, and attorney-advisor at the United
States Copyright Office, Rachel Goslins, led all the
meetings. The U.S. Consulate General in Barcelona hosted
similar events.

C.1 Post believes the IV program can be extremely useful to
introduce host country officials to the most innovative U.S.
strategies to fight IP infringement. In FY 2002 two Spanish
contacts (a university law professor and a mid-level
copyright office functionary) participated in IP-specific IV
programs in the U.S. In FY 2004, another mid-level
copyright office official and two judges will participate in
a similar program.

We have proposed, for FY 2005, a special IV program to train
national police, local police and civil guard officers in
the newest strategies to fight IP infringement.

ARGYROS