SPECIAL 301 PREVIEW DELIVERED TO HONG KONG AND

UNCLAS HONG KONG 000815

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/CM AND EEB/OMA
DOC PASS AWILSON
DHS PASS MMDUDEK
DOJ PASS JZACHARIA
USPTO PASS JURBAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR HK CH
SUBJECT: SPECIAL 301 PREVIEW DELIVERED TO HONG KONG AND
MACAU

REF: A. STATE 41999

B. HONG KONG 372

C. HONG KONG 382


1. (U) Post provided a preview of the 2009 Special 301 report
to governments of Macau and Hong Kong on April 30 (ref A).

Macau
--------------


2. (SBU) Macau Customs Service Director General Choi Lai Hang
appreciated our advance notice that Macau was excluded from
this year's Special 301 report. He pledged to continue his
department's efforts to eradicate counterfeit goods in Macau.
EconOff expressed the USG's appreciation of Macau Customs'
effectiveness in combating physical piracy, but restated our
concern about the continued rampant piracy of satellite
television signals by unlicensed firms (known locally as
"antenna companies") that provide cable TV service to the
majority of Macau's residential customers (ref B). Choi said
signal piracy by the antenna companies is not a criminal
offense in Macau. He speculated this was the reason why the
prosecutor's office in Macau has not pursued the several
signal piracy cases presented by Macau Customs. He
encouraged us to continue our discussions about this issue
with the Macau Special Administrative Region Government
(MSARG) Bureau of Telecommunications Regulation (known
locally by its Portuguese acronym "DSRT"). DSRT was unable
to meet with us to discuss the Special 301 report, but we
will continue our dialogue with DSRT to prod them toward
action against the antenna companies.


3. (SBU) In a separate meeting on April 30 with Macau Cable
CEO Angela Leung, she said several Macau government
departments, public universities, hospitals and schools
continue to use antenna companies. She said her company (the
only licensed cable TV provider in Macau) recently sent
letters to the MSARG requesting that all government-operated
facilities immediately cease their antenna company service.
When we discussed this issue with Choi, he encouraged us to
address the issue with the DSRT.

Hong Kong
--------------


4. (SBU) In an April 30 discussion with HKG Intellectual
Property Department (IPD) Acting Director Peter Cheung, Post
expressed appreciation for IPD's exemplary efforts to protect
intellectual property rights (IPR). Cheung thanked the
Consulate General fr our support of IPD's programs, and said
multilaeral cooperation remains a key element of his
goernment's IPR protection efforts (ref C). He saidBeijing
and Guangdong officials increasingly liase with IPD to learn
from its IPR-related activiies, including legislative
amendments, anti-piracy education for young people and small
businesses, retail store certification programs, formal
cooperation mechanisms with Hong Kong Customs, and IPD's
relationship-building with private sector intellectual
property owners.
DONOVAN