Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06DUBAI326
2006-01-22 12:26:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Dubai
Cable title:  

IPR WORKSHOP IN DUBAI BRINGS TOGETHER REGIONAL JUDGES AND

Tags:  PREL PGOV TSPL ETRD XI ZP TC 
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VZCZCXRO8113
RR RUEHDE
DE RUEHDE #0326 0221226
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 221226Z JAN 06
FM AMCONSUL DUBAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7914
INFO RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 0803
RUEHZM/GCC C COLLECTIVE
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 0001
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 0095
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 0012
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 0024
RUEHMS/AMEMBASSY MUSCAT 0015
RUEHYN/AMEMBASSY SANAA 0009
C O N F I D E N T I A L DUBAI 000326 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 1/18/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV TSPL ETRD XI ZP TC
SUBJECT: IPR WORKSHOP IN DUBAI BRINGS TOGETHER REGIONAL JUDGES AND
BUSINESS


CLASSIFIED BY: Jason L. Davis, Consul General, Consulate Dubai,
State Department.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(e)


C O N F I D E N T I A L DUBAI 000326

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 1/18/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV TSPL ETRD XI ZP TC
SUBJECT: IPR WORKSHOP IN DUBAI BRINGS TOGETHER REGIONAL JUDGES AND
BUSINESS


CLASSIFIED BY: Jason L. Davis, Consul General, Consulate Dubai,
State Department.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(e)



1.(U) Summary: The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
organized and held a "Judicial Workshop on Intellectual Property
Rights (IPR) Enforcement", in Dubai from January 16-18. The
training workshop was funded through the U.S. Department of
State's Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and sponsored
by USPTO, MEPI and the UAE Ministry of Justice. It aimed to
build capacity and encourage enforcement of IPR under the TRIPS
Agreement. On the margins of the workshop, a GM IPR investigator
provided a relatively positive assessment of IPR enforcement in
the Northern Emirates (see para 5). End Summary.

IPR Training, Networking
--------------


2. (U) More than 40 judges from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait,
Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE participated in a MEPI
funded, USPTO-run workshop in IPR enforcement held January 16-18
in Dubai. Due to the government shutdown after the death of
Dubai Ruler Sheikh Maktoum, the Yemeni participants were not
able to get UAE visas in time to attend the conference. The
program was led by three USPTO personnel, with three sitting
U.S. judges, judges from Egypt and the UAE, as well as
representatives from General Motors, Proctor and Gamble,
Microsoft, and the Arabian Anti-Piracy Alliance also giving
presentations. The seminar was simultaneously translated into
Arabic and French.

3.(U) The program featured presentations, panel discussions,
group discussions and case studies on types of intellectual
property, standards for protecting and enforcing IPR under TRIPS
and recent free trade agreements, alternative dispute resolution
and judicial mediation, calculation of damages, handling
confidential information, requests for emergency relief and

SIPDIS
other related topics. The workshop also served to help judges
from across the MEPI region build networks.

4.(U) Two Arabic language UAE newspapers gave positive coverage
to the event. Dr. Mohamed Al Kamali, Director General of the UAE
Ministry of Justice Judicial Training and Studies Institute, a
presenter at the seminar, told Al-Ittihad newspaper the UAE's
regulations pertaining to anti-piracy are considered highly
preventive and provide a healthy business environment for
legitimate trading. He stressed that the UAE seeks to break into
the top 10 lowest piracy-rate countries in the world; in 2004
UAE ranked 16th and led all MENA countries, according to a study
by the International Data Corporation.

IPR Enforcement in the Northern Emirates
--------------

5.(C) In a sidebar discussion during the workshop, Warren
Hayday, Investigations Manager at General Motors' Africa and
Middle East division, spoke to PolEconoff about counterfeit
automobile parts in the northern Emirates. Hayday, who works
directly with customs or the economic departments in the various
emirates, pronounced himself quite satisfied with the
relationships. When Hayday provides specific derogatory
information to authorities, they generally have a good, if at
times slower than desired, response time. GM rarely seeks to
prosecute offenders, relying instead on confiscating parts and
on the imposition of standard fines by the emirates. Authorities
allow him to videotape the destruction of the counterfeit goods.
GM provides training on how to identify counterfeit parts to
authorities at ports in the northern emirates, most recently in
Ajman. Hayday stressed that although some sales of counterfeit
parts do occur in the Emirates, a larger problem is UAE's role
as a transshipment point to Saudi Arabia. He claims that all of
the ports in Dubai and the northern Emirates, as well as the
associated free zones, are used to transship counterfeit parts.

BURNS

DAVIS