IPR SEMINARS IN COLOMBO HIGHLIGHT ISSUES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001335

SIPDIS

GENEVA FOR USTR
DEPT PASS TO TIMOTHY BROWNING, US PATENT AND TRADEMARK
OFFICE

E.O 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD KIPR EAID ECON CE ECONOMICS
SUBJECT: IPR SEMINARS IN COLOMBO HIGHLIGHT ISSUES



1. Summary: A series of USPTO sponsored Intellectual
Property Rights (IPR) seminars were held in Colombo on
July 23 and 25 when Professor William O. Hennessey of
the Franklin Pierce Law Center, Concord, New Hampshire,
and Timothy Browning, Attorney-Advisor with the Office
of Enforcement, Department of External Affairs, U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office, visited Sri Lanka. While
Sri Lanka has begun to enforce IPR laws passed in 2003,
many gaps in the field became apparent at these
discussions. Significant work remains to be done to
energize local business and artistic communities to
organize for advocacy of their creative and artistic
rights, and to assist Customs and Police in their IPR
investigations. End Summary.


2. The Embassy organized a series of IPR discussions
and seminars from July 23 through 26 to coincide with a
USPTO sponsored visit of Professor William O Hennessey
and Timothy Browning. Professor Hennessey addressed
post graduate students following an IPR diploma course
at the Sri Lanka Law College and made presentations to
government officials and private sector right holders
in various business and artistic sectors and private
attorneys. In addition, Mr. Browning held side
meetings with senior Police and Customs officers tasked
with enforcing IPR laws and private prosecutors engaged
in IPR litigation. The public seminars were well
attended, with over 100 participants, indicating
interest by concerned authorities to learn about IPR.
The visit received wide coverage in the local press,
both in the print media and TV.


3. The speakers impressed upon their various audiences
the importance of securing intellectual property for
local innovators and producers as well as global
companies, and discussed recent developments in IP.
Dr. D M Karunaratne, Director General, of the National
Intellectual Property Office (NIPO) attending a press
round table with the visiting speakers, said that the
Governemnt will introduce a state policy on IPR soon.
In addition, new laws to protect traditional knowledge
are in the pipeline. Mr. Jazeel, Director Imports and
Policy Planning of Sri Lanka Customs revealed plans to
issue new customs implementing regulations on IPR.
These regulations will set a clear policy on how to
make complaints and detections.


4. While Sri Lanka has begun to enforce IPR laws
passed in 2003, many gaps in the field became apparent
at these discussions. A major barrier for trademark
enforcement is the non- registration of trademarks.
Trademark registration could take from 2 to 5 years.
Another major issue is the absence of organizations of
right holders and artistic rights societies. Both
Professor Hennessey and Mr. Browning stressed the
importance of right holders collaborating to fight
piracy, and urged them to form such organizations.
They also emphasized the importance of connecting with
international right holders organizations such as the
IFPI.


5. It was apparent that Sri Lanka Customs needs to be
the main line of defense as most of the counterfeit
goods in the market are imported, while some
counterfeit apparel are also exported from Sri Lanka.
Both the Customs and the Commercial Crimes division of
the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID)
have had successes recently. The police raided 16
shops for music piracy and most of the shop owners have
pleaded guilty. They were fined and also given
suspended prison sentences. The police also raided
several clothing stores for infringing trademarks of
popular U.S. brand names. Some of the counterfeit
apparel had been manufactured in Sri Lanka, some had
been imported from South East Asia, and some are
overruns leaked to the market from licensed companies.
The Customs Department has also detected export
shipments of counterfeit apparel. These raids were
initiated on complaints from right holders or their
representatives. Some of the issues that have surfaced
in these raids are the failure to register trademarks
in Sri Lanka, lack of Customs awareness of the nature
of counterfeit trade taking place in Sri Lanka, and the
absence of right holder's organizations in Sri Lanka.
Both Sri Lanka customs and police stressed the need for
right holders to be proactive and make representations
as a group.


6. MEntertainment, the local agent for a range of
international record companies, informed the Embassy of
a raid of music pirates in the bazaar areas of central
Colombo, on July 26. MEntertainment said that these
raids may have been prompted by the seminars and press
coverage to the visit. There was a large contingent of
Police personnel at the seminars.


7. Comment: Coming on the heels of the recent court
decisions favoring IP rights holders and vendors of
legitimate goods, these seminars and meetings may be
the push needed to encourage the formation of Sri
Lankan IPR advocates, just as the seminars apparently
led to further raids against vendors of pirated music.
Post will continue to seek ways to improve the IPR
regime in Sri Lanka.

LUNSTEAD