Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07ATHENS2393
2007-12-21 14:44:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Athens
Cable title:  

IPR AFTER THE ELECTIONS: SOME PROGRESS

Tags:  ECON ETRD KIPR GR 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7927
RR RUEHIK
DE RUEHTH #2393/01 3551444
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211444Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY ATHENS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0945
INFO RUEHIK/AMCONSUL THESSALONIKI 1743
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
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

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

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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