Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ATHENS1630
2006-06-23 14:49:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Athens
Cable title:  

SHOPPING AROUND THE SPECIAL 301 ACTION PLAN SHOWS

Tags:  KIPR ECON ETRD GR 
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VZCZCXYZ0015
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTH #1630/01 1741449
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 231449Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY ATHENS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5907
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 001630 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

COMMERCE DEPARTMENT FOR MAC/3323 CHERIE RUSNAK AND MAC/3319
JONATHAN KIMBALL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/21/2016
TAGS: KIPR ECON ETRD GR
SUBJECT: SHOPPING AROUND THE SPECIAL 301 ACTION PLAN SHOWS
GOG NEEDS A GOOD JOLT

REF: SECSTATE 66964

Classified By: Ambassador Charles P. Ries for Reasons 1.4 (b,d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 001630

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

COMMERCE DEPARTMENT FOR MAC/3323 CHERIE RUSNAK AND MAC/3319
JONATHAN KIMBALL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/21/2016
TAGS: KIPR ECON ETRD GR
SUBJECT: SHOPPING AROUND THE SPECIAL 301 ACTION PLAN SHOWS
GOG NEEDS A GOOD JOLT

REF: SECSTATE 66964

Classified By: Ambassador Charles P. Ries for Reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) Since receipt of the Action Plan for IPR in Greece in
April, Mission elements have discussed it with MFA, MinFin,
and Ministry of Culture. We have made it clear to all that
Greece dodged a bullet this year, but that it won't be able
to do so a second time without significant improvements in
its IPR regime. Reaction at both the Ministry of Culture and
Ministry of Finance have been positive, although we predict
translating rhetorical commitment to help into concrete
actions will be a challenge. Unfortunately, our MFA contacts
reacted with what can only be called nonchalance. Mission
next steps include an approach to the Ministry of Justice to
urge creation of a long-promised IPR training segment for
judges and establishment of the Special Attika IPR Court.

--------------
Ministry of Finance and Economy
--------------


2. (C) On June 22, Economic and Commercial Counselors met
with Deputy Minister Christos Folias to present the IPR
Action Plan as well as a letter from Commerce Assistant
Secretary Bohigian outlining steps the GoG can take to

SIPDIS
improve the bilateral trade and investment relationship.
When the discussion turned to IPR, Folias pointed out of his
window to street vendors on Constitution Square, saying "I'm
certain they're selling counterfeit goods; it's shameful.
Greece must do better." Moreover, Folias noted that poor IPR
enforcement hurt the GoG through reduced tax receipts, and
most importantly through the blot it put on Greece's
character as a country. Folias said he planned to meet
Minister of Public Order Polydoras in order to find ways of
combating the marketing of counterfeit goods: "We need
undercover agents to follow these vendors to their suppliers
to find out where they get their merchandise. Then we need
to cut off the snake from the head." Folias did not feel
increased prosecution and arrests at the retail level would
particularly improve the situation, again stressing the

importance of finding the "big fish" and putting them in
jail. Folias stressed that he was happy to meet with USG
representatives at any time to discuss IPR issues, and was
particularly receptive to meeting with A/S Bohigian in the
fall and with the IPR Monitoring Group personnel visiting
Greece in mid-July.

--------------
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
--------------


3. (C) Deputy Economic Counselor and Commercial Counselor
presented the Action Plan April 22 to Marina Hondropoulou,
Director for Intellectual Property in the MFA B-4 Directorate
for International Economic Organizations. (Note:
Hondropoulou was the main coordinator for the December 12
2005 IPR conference organized by the MFA. End Note)
Although Hondropoulou agreed during the meeting that Greece
had an IPR problem, she attacked the statistics on which
industry was basing its claims about GoG performance. She
claimed that the GoG was working on its own IPR action plan,
but was vague about the plan's status and content.
Hondropoulou claimed the MFA was in charge of coordinating
the GoG's IPR enforcement efforts, but she did not provide
any information about specific ways it had been working with
other GoG ministries and organizations.

-------------- --------------
Ministry of Culture: Office of Copyright Protection
-------------- --------------


4. (C) Economic Counselor presented the Action Plan June 20
to Constantinos Polyzogopoulos, the head of the Ministry of
Culture's Office of Copyright Protection. Polyzogopoulos,
who has always been a forceful proponent of greatly
strengthened Greek IPR protection, welcomed the Plan as a
clear and logical way forward. He fully agreed with the
Plan's focus on judicial training, and noted he had received
an ironclad commitment from the Ministry of Justice to
implement a special training session on IPR for Greek judges,
which he had personally announced December 12 at the MFA IPR
conference. He found it, he said, galling that this
commitment had yet to be fulfilled. Polyzogopoulos said he
did not fully agree with the Action Plan's points on the
establishment of the Attika IPR Session Court, saying that
the court as currently foreseen would have jurisdiction for
ordinary civil proceedings only. In comparison to the 20 or
so cases of this sort, the Greek justice system considered

over 500 injunctions and 2000 criminal proceedings annually.
Many of these were incorrectly decided by justices lacking
any IPR training; again, the answer was better judicial
training. "The justices that consider these cases must have
training and expertise; each injunction allows the State to
shut down IPR violators on an immediate basis; we need this
desperately." He also savaged the MFA's complete lack of
follow-up to the December conference, and expressed his
belief that the only reason that the conference had taken
place was the personal commitment of Deputy Foreign Affairs
Minister Stylianides to improving Greece's international
image. The MFA directorate in charge of the conference, B-4,
w!s h%a$ed u0 by an incompetent diplc%at U(% Qa3 uf$)+e,i to
do anything unlesQ 0Q1(e$ h!r$ "9 (is superiors.


5. (C) Po,I:%%aPaUd+S Qo$d Eaanomic Counselor that (e Qa3 s)Q
d)S#mUQa!%d by his efforts to im0Qc6e IPR pQc4eaQi#f Qhat he
was seriousl9 th)*)i.e gb r%3i%f)&g his post. He emphasi*edQ
4(!t hi1 $isap0mintment was not limite$ ta 4(% E'E. H)QQQ
%fforts to push through a .%s a$%iniQt2!t)2e fine to be
imposed ob s%,d%Rq c& #-5*t%Rfeit merchandise had beej Qh2%1&Q
).T) $)s!rray by the last minute !fd u*!#mr$i"!t%d approach
of the Business Qe"TQ!2% Allia&ae (BSA) representative to
i&c2e!3e t(e &e% t- a level in contraventic. )f Eu2%0ea*QQ
U*)cn law. As a result o& BQA#Q !c4)-"Q$ h% q!id, forward
progress on the fee had been delayed by months. He hoped all
the relevant ministers will have signed the newest version of
this proposal in time for it to be submitted to Parliament by
the end of the summer. Polyzogopoulos said industry was also
not universally paying the legally-required IP fees that
funded his office and said he had taken the Hellenic Society
for the Protection of Intellectual Property (IIP) to court to
get the overdue monies. The case was now before the Supreme
Court of Greece (Areos Pagos). (Note: In the past,
Polyzogopoulos has told us that increased funding from other
entities, especially the GoG, have allowed him significantly
to expand his staff and activities. This remains true, in
spite of the current dispute with IIP. End Note.)

--------------
Comment
--------------


6. (C) While individuals such as Polyzogopoulos and Folias
give us faith that the GoG has people willing to fight for
good IPR protection, they have an uphill battle.
Polyzogopoulos made it clear that he and his organization
have little power on their own to effect change. As for
Folias, he has many things on his plate; whatever his
personal commitment to IPR protection, we do not believe that
he completely understands the seriousness of the country's
Special 301 vulnerability and do not expect him at this point
to lead the required follow up. In order to push this point
home, on the way out of the meeting with Folias, Economic and
Commercial Counselors told Folias' assistant that lack of
Greek action this year meant that Greece may well find itself
on the Special 301 watch list next year. We explained what
the list was, and urged her to speak with Polyzogopoulos to
hear from a Greek who understands IPR and the situation
Greece is facing. She promised to do so, and we hope this
will result in a new opportunity to engage MinFin. As for
MFA, we believe meetings Commerce and State plan to have with
representatives from the Greek Embassy are an excellent
opportunity to make the point at a high level that the GoG
must take action now on IPR. We plan to go into MFA again at
a higher level to reinforce that message here. We have
requested a meeting with the Ministry of Justice official
responsible for the Ministry's judicial training to urge him
to make good on the GoG's promise to institute judicial IPR
training.
RIES