2005 IPR TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRETORIA 001697

SIPDIS

FOR INL, EB/IPC, AF/EPS, AND AF/S
DEPT PASS USTR FOR P COLEMAN AND V ESPINEL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KIPR ECON ETRD SF
SUBJECT: 2005 IPR TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
- PROPOSAL FOR WORKSHOPS WITH MAGISTRATES

REF: (A) STATE 48295; (B) 2004 PRETORIA 1437; (C) 2004

PRETORIA 1271; (D) 2004 STATE 42798


1. In response to reftel A request for project proposals,
post submits a $18,650 budget request to conduct workshops
for South African magistrates in the enforcement of South
African intellectual property laws. The proposal is based
on the workshops we did in 2004 and 2005 in South Africa.
Working through the Intellectual Property Action Group
(IPACT),South African IPR lawyers conducted sessions with
South African national prosecutors in Johannesburg,
Polokwane, Nelspruit, Kimberley, Bloemfontein, Cape Town,
Port Elizabeth, and Durban, the major cities in eight South
African provinces-Gauteng, Northern Province, Mpumulanga,
Northern Cape, Free State, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, and
KwaZuluNatal.


2. For institutional reasons, it was not considered
appropriate to have the prosecutors and the magistrates in
the same room. Though we were able to do one small workshop
with some magistrates, this year we focused on the
prosecutors. The turnout of about 300 national prosecutors
was impressive. A frequent comment by the national
prosecutors was that we should do the same program for the
magistrates. Therefore, we propose a series of workshops in
the coming year for South African magistrates on IPR law.


3. The one-day program would include industry videos on anti-
piracy; lectures by IPACT lawyers on copyright law,
trademark law, and procedures under South Africa's
Counterfeit Goods Act; and discussion of: expert evidence
preparation; admission of guilt; evidence and presumptions;
chain of evidence; analysis of product; the use of civil
orders in criminal proceedings; sentencing; and knowledge.
The budget would cover the costs of contracting for the
venue and associated travel costs for Embassy officer to
participate.


4. Proposed budget

City Venue Travel & per diem of Embassy
officer

Johannesburg 2,500 -0-
Polokwane 1,000 650
Nelspruit 1,000 650
Kimberley 1,000 650
Bloemfontein 1,000 700
Cape Town 3,000 1,050
Port Elizabeth 2,000 750
Durban 2,000 700

Subtotal 13,500 5,150

Total $18,650


5. IPACT presenters include representatives of the best IPR
law firms in South Africa as well as the Recording Industry
of South Africa (RISA),the South African Federation Against
Copyright Theft (SAFACT),the Business Software Alliance,
and Microsoft. Embassy has been able to keep the costs down
of the workshops by handling many of the logistics with our
own resources rather than hiring an events coordinator as
envisioned last year. Similarly, other IPACT members
donated training materials, which also contained costs.


6. IPR piracy in the form of counterfeits of U.S. products
including software, DVDs, and CDs is a major problem in
South Africa. While the laws on the books are adequate,
there has not been sufficient enforcement. In the past year,
IPACT worked with South Africa's National Prosecuting
Authority (NPA) to address these issues by conducting
workshops on South Africa's IPR laws as outlined above. The
workshops have been successful because they allowed
prosecutors to spend an entire day focused solely on IPR
laws. The prosecutors asked practical questions at the
workshops. Some prosecutors, for example, were not
previously aware of South Africa's Counterfeit Goods Act and
had relied almost exclusively on the customs statute to
seize counterfeit goods. They said they would use this
knowledge to be more effective in enforcing IPR laws.


7. At the workshops, the U.S. Embassy representatives have
raised awareness of the importance of IPR enforcement on
both U.S. and South African jobs and of the U.S. "STOP"
initiative - Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy. The
cooperation of the NPA in directing hundreds of South
African prosecutors to attend the workshops demonstrates the
willingness of South Africa's political will to attack
intellectual property crime. The participation of so many
prosecutors, including the local chief prosecutor, is
another sign of senior level engagement by public officials.
Similarly, the completion of evaluation sheets by the
prosecutors provided useful advice on how we can improve the
training.


8. After many years of merely discussing IPR issues, IPACT
finally got training off the ground this past year with the
U.S. Embassy's support of these workshops with INL funding.
We would like to continue the momentum we have achieved by
extending these workshops to the magistrates in the coming
year. In the longer term, we would hope to continue these
IPR enforcement training programs on an annual basis at
appropriate target audiences. U.S. funding will allow IPACT
to be able to build on the success of what we have started.
FRAZER