IPR AFTER THE ELECTIONS: SOME PROGRESS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ATHENS 002393 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS COMMERCE FOR ITA - KRISTIN NADJI AND USPTO- MICHAEL SMITH E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR GR SUBJECT: IPR AFTER THE ELECTIONS: SOME PROGRESS REF: A. A) ATHENS 373 ¶B. B) ATHENS 1483 ¶C. C) STATE 154444 ¶D. D) FROWICK-COWAN EMAIL 12/20/07 ¶E. E) FROWICK-USPTO (FLEISHER/SMITH) EMAILS OF 12/14/07 AND PREVIOUS ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Greek authorities told us on December 18 that they launched a coordinated sweep against contraband street peddlers. The sweep will be conducted each day between now and January 15, with the exception of December ¶24. Subsequent calls ot industry representatives revealed tha tthe sweep was not -- at least not yet -- as cmprehensive as portrayed. Additionally, the Special Tax Police have followed up their July software license audit letters with "interviews" with over 40 firms, and has plans to conduct 260 such interviews by the end of April 2008. Until these developments, the GOG had demonstrated uneven enforcement of the two new Greek IPR-related regulations, one on administrative fines, implemented by national police forces including tax police, the other a ministerial decree mandating that the (unarmed) municipal authorities confiscate contraband. The regulations contain a structural problem, however, as vendors of contraband reportedly have opted simply to go to court for DVD-related charges rather than pay immediate fines for CD peddling and then still go to court for the DVDs they also carry. ¶2. (U) Summary Continued: In the meantime the GOG continues efforts to organize the Greek interagency to focus on IPR crimes. The Hellenic Copyright Organization (OPI) continues to conduct numerous seminars and educational outreach activities, and it is developing a comprehensive website for IPR information needed by GOG enforcement agencies. Separately, OPI is gathering data to develop a secure database of convictions to be used by law enforcement to ensure proper sentencing of recidivists. The public-private IPR Task Force meets regularly. Embassy Athens continues to work with USPTO and Greek interlocutors to prepare seminars and conferences to raise public and professional understanding of IPR crimes. End Summary. -------------- Problems, Progress with Street Enforcement -------------- ¶3. (SBU) The Greek government is making some progress on enforcement of IPR law now that elections are over and new 
ministers have been sworn in. National police have started imposing administrative fines against vendors of counterfeit goods (the first case ended in the order of deportation of the accused) and municipal police, particula Athens, began confiscQls. The administrative fine regulation does not cover contraband DVDs, thus any vendor caught selling them must face a judge. Moreover, in the rare instance that a vendor is found carrying only CDs, s/he has the option of either paying the stiff fine (not less than 1000 euro) or of going to court. Since everyone knows that the Greek court system is extremely backed up and that judges do not accord a high priority to IPR cases, vendors reportedly have chosen to go to court rather than pay a fine. Reportedly the word is out and most now make sure they carry DVDs. (Note: It is important to note that this structural problem arose because DVDs were not included in the administrative fines process at the insistence of the industry itself.) ¶5. (SBU) Post hosted a working lunch on September 27 for the Deputy Mayor of Athens Andreas Papadakis in order to discuss the municipality's implementation of the ministerial decree on municipal confiscations. Joining were representatives of locally based IPR business associations including EPOE (the Greek branch of MPAA),and the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI), which also sent its London based regional director Peter Scott. At that time city authorities were in early stages of working out modalities for full implementation of the decree. Because city authorities do not have arrest power, nor are they armed, enforcement requires coordination between the municipal authorities and two law-enforcement branches of the national government ) the tax police (YPEE) and Ministry of Justice/National Police. Papadakis told us that initial ATHENS 00002393 002 OF 004 implementation of the confiscation regime had not been without incident ) in fact just the previous week a municipal police officer tried to confiscate contraband from a street vendor but was verbally challenged by passers-by, and physically attached by the vendor and his associates, resulting in the officer getting a broken nose. Press reports indicate that the police labor association is looking at the situation with an eye to gaining better physical security for their officers. Papadakis told us that the municipal police were seeking to revive a MOU on cooperation that had been agreed with the national police force during the 2004 Olympics, to permit at least one armed national police officer to accompany the unarmed municipal police during IPR raids. ¶6. (SBU) In subsequent discussions of enforcement of the administrative fines, industry representatives expressed some frustration that the GOG was permitting bureaucratic inertia to stall it. IFPI in particular had placed high hopes on a pre-Christmas anti-piracy campaign that would both provide a visible deterrent and remove contraband from the important pre-Christmas market, during which the music industry makes up to 45 percent of its sales. ¶7. (SBU) In a December 19 meeting with new Special Tax Police (YPEE) Secretary (i.e. Director) Spyros Cladas, we learned that the GOG that day finally launched a program to sweep Athens's streets of contraband. He said 20 seven-person teams consisting of YPEE, national police, and Athens police will hit the streets each day between December 19 and January 15 (except for Christmas eve),targeting those areas where the problem is most acute. The GOG has worked out a procedure for confiscating and destroying the goods and accounting for any fines collected, which, according to Cladas, had been a problem as most of those fined have been undocumented migrants and the tax police had no "Category" available in their software to identify them as such. Cladas told us that on January 15 the GOG would suspend the program and assess its effectiveness, with an eye to making a public report. He assured us that the GOG would be collecting data on arrests/seizures and fines for a new annual report on IPR enforcement, and would share such data with us. (Note: we called industry representatives December 21 to get their reactions to the sweep -- EPOE had heard of it but didn't know any details; IFPI told us that so far they knew of only one raid, on Dec. 18. We will check in after the new year to see what really happened. End note.) -------------- Software Audits -------------- ¶8. (SBU) YPEE's performance in going after unlicensed software has been one of the bright spots in Greece's IPR scene, and was a principal argument for removing Greece from the Special 301 list after 2003, since software "piracy" rate was brought down by several percentage points after enforcement began (ref A). Posts' discussions with local representatives of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) have revealed broad satisfaction with Greek progress -- until recently. During a December 5 meeting with BSA, we learned that in their own earlier meeting with Cladas they had urged YPEE to begin auditing firms that had not responded to the earlier series of YPEE letters to businesses noting the legal requirement to use licensed software (refs). To their dismay, despite the passage of over two months since the elections and installation of Cladas as new YPEE Director, no formal audits had occurred. BSA Counsel Archondoula Papapanageorgiou told us she believes that simply by auditing a few firms, the word would spread and software piracy rates could be brought down further. ¶9. (SBU) We asked Cladas December 19 about the prospects for conducting further formal audits. He told us that, while formal audits based solely on the software letters had not yet occurred (largely because his people were not fully trained on what to look for),YPEE was nevertheless calling in firms for "interviews" to discuss their software licenses. He observed that most firms ensure that they have purchased licenses before arriving for their interview. If they haven't, YPEE instructs them to do so. YPEE has conducted 40 such interview this autumn, and plans to conduct 260 more by the end of April 2008. Cladas believes that these interviews will have the same multiplier effect as that envisioned by Papapanageorgiou. Cladas did not say whether YPEE follows up with these firm to re-check their licenses, but he did assure us that auditors will look for licenses in future tax audits. ATHENS 00002393 003 OF 004 -------------- Other Elements of the Action Plan -------------- ¶10. (U) The Hellenic Copyright Organization (OPI) continues to engage in a wide variety of activities, and has shared a current listing with us (ref D). Notable is its effort to develop its database of IPR resources, as was required under the administrative fine regulation, using EU funds. OPI Director Irini Stamatoudi tells us that it will be launched in January 2008, when it will be accessible by all GOG bodies, including law-enforcement agencies and judges. Separately, OPI is developing a secure database of convictions data, to be used by law enforcement to ensure proper sentencing of recidivists. She is concerned that OPI will not be able to administer it over the long term, however, as her office does not have the resources to hire the additional two people required. ¶11. (SBU) On a less positive side of the ledger, not much has been done to speed prosecutions through the notoriously overburdened and independent-minded Greek judiciary (although the government has opened debate in parliament on measures to streamline and speed judicial processes). And while OPI,s recent public-private IPR Task Forces (TF) have been very well attended including for the first time representatives of municipal authorities, the GOG has not yet formalized an interagency Task Force nor has it assigned clear lines of authority and dedicated staff. Additionally, the Interior Ministry representative of the Union of Municipalities (a national level organization looking after the interests of municipal governments) groused at the public-private TF about the mandate in the ministerial decree to step up confiscations without additional resources for municipalities, and threatened to seek the decree's repeal. MFA IPR Counselor Marina Hrondropoulou told us December 14 in response to Ref C demarche that the GOG is discussing creating an inter-ministerial committee on IPR staffed at secretary general level, however we note that we have heard SIPDIS this before - as early as April of this year. ¶12. (SBU) The USG has been doing its part to support the Greek efforts. We will send Stamadoudi to the U.S. for a February 2008 International Visitors program focusing on copyright protections. Additionally, the Greek Copyright office will be sending three participants to an upcoming USPTO training session in Washington. And of course the USPTO grant of $125,000 (Ref E) will help raise consciousness on IPR issues with a range of Greek and neighboring country officials, including prosecutors, judges and police officials. We are working with the OPI to use part of the USPTO funds to support an international IPR conference focused on internet piracy, most likely in mid-June 2008. Our current thinking for the balance of that funding is to support judicial seminars and possibly a follow-on seminar for the international conference. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶13. (SBU) COMMENT: Clearly the GOG is making progress in developing new systems and practices to combat IPR piracy. The news from Cladas on a holiday season crackdown is just what industry had asked for, and we anticipate that the 20 plus law enforcement teams will be busy. Over the longer term, however, the picture on enforcement is mixed. Although we do anticipate more arrests and confiscations under the new regulatory regime, due to its structural problems noted above, it is not clear whether this will translate to a long term pattern of more fines and sentencing. It is conceivable, even likely, that once the system has its kinks worked out, and once the OPI conviction database is in wide use, then we will see more effective prosecution/sentencing, including deportations of illegal migranQ on &poor ecQctive in enforcing basic law and order. In a September incident, a Nigerian vendor leapt from a restaurant balcony to his death while fleeing what he thought were police. This resulted in violent street demonstrations by immigrant and anarchist groups. There has been plenty of other anecdotal evidence of negative public reaction to police/municipal ATHENS 00002393 004 OF 004 authority action against street vendors ) which points to the need for a robust public outreach campaign and consistent &talkers8 on IPR crime at all levels of government in Greece. This will be a focus of our discussios with the GOG over coming weeks. SPECKHARD