TAIWAN CUSTOMS OFFICERS GET NINTENDO TRAINING

UNCLAS TAIPEI 001705 SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/RSP/TC AND EB/TPP/IPC E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KIPR ECON TW IPR SUBJECT: TAIWAN CUSTOMS OFFICERS GET NINTENDO TRAINING REF: A. 04 TAIPEI 4066 ¶B. TAIPEI 936 ¶1. Following the disbanding of the Export Monitoring System (EMS) on December 31, 2004, entertainment software companies have been concerned that Taiwan Customs would be unable and unwilling to take action to protect intellectual property to the same standard as the EMS. At the urging of AIT, Taiwan Customs conducted a series of training sessions on March 29 at the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport for 160 Customs officers responsible for inspections of airfreight and general cargo in an attempt to mitigate the concerns of the entertainment software industry. Training on how to recognize counterfeit Nintendo products was conducted by Nintendo representatives from Shay & Partners. Officers were instructed how to identify counterfeit game products by use of various security features as well as by looking for obvious clues such as multiple games on one cartridge. Customs officers said before the training that they had seized four shipments of counterfeit Nintendo products in March. ¶2. Customs officers said the training was helpful in giving them the technical background necessary to recognize obvious fakes and were eager to receive equipment promised from Nintendo that would help them to identify less obvious counterfeits. Even before the training, Taiwan Customs has recently confiscatated a number of counterfeit game products, including four seizures in March of Nintendo products, totaling over 2000 items. Over 1000 fake Nintendo game cartridges were seized by Taiwan Customs on March 27. In March, Customs officials also seized eleven shipments of counterfeit Sony Playstation 2 (PS2) games and ten shipments of counterfeit DVDs totaling 767 items. ¶3. The Export Management System (EMS) annual budget of almost US$750,000 continues to be used to support anti-piracy activities. Approximately 80 percent has been earmarked for upgrading computers and other technical equipment used by Taiwan's IP Police. The remainder will be used to fund travel to study other regional IP enforcement regimes. ¶4. The March 29 session continues Taiwan Custom's recent emphasis on training. In 2004, Taiwan Customs held 12 IPR-related workshops to train 870 officers. Training included presentations by Microsoft on recognizing counterfeit software and by Pfizer on counterfeit drug packaging. Eight additional workshops are planned for April and May to train Customs officers to identify fake tobacco and alcohol products. Customs officials tell AIT the vast majority of counterfeit products found are intercepted in transit from Hong Kong, many presumably originating in China. Interception of counterfeit products being exported directly from Taiwan is reportedly rare. KEEGAN