IPR IN ITALY - AMERICAN VOICES AMONG ITALIAN ELITE

UNCLAS ROME 001396

SIPDIS

STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR FOR ERIN MCCONAHA, JENNIFER CHOE GROVES,
CHRISTOPHER WILSON
STATE PLEASE PASS TO EEB/TPP/IPE FOR TOM O'KEEFE, JOELLEN URBAN,
TIMOTHY MCGOWAN
DEPT OF COMMERCE FOR SUSAN WILSON
DHS PLEASE PASS TO ICE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: IT KIPR ETRD ECON EINT

SUBJECT: IPR IN ITALY - AMERICAN VOICES AMONG ITALIAN ELITE

REF: (A) ROME 1047


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Summary
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1. (U) Three American speakers, recruited by Embassy Rome, recently
spoke at an intellectual property rights (IPR) conference held in
Rome. The two USG speakers and one private sector speaker spoke on
issues of IPRs and competition law, emerging areas of patent law,
and U.S. approaches to copyright. This conference allowed U.S.
perspectives to be heard at a gathering of Italian academics and IP
professionals who are influential in the field. End summary.

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LUISS CONFERENCE - IPR: CONVERGENCES AND DIVERGENCES
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2. (U) Embassy Rome was co-sponsor of a seminar hosted by LUISS
Guido Carli University. LUISS is a prestigious private university
sponsored by Confindustria, Italy's largest industry association.
The Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute of the
University of London was also a sponsor. The goal was to discuss
differences and similarities in IPR law in the U.S., Europe and
Asia.



3. (U) The Embassy, with assistance from USTR and the IP office at
the State Department, recruited three speakers: Michael Shapiro,
from the USPTO, Alden Abbott, deputy director of special projects in
the international office of the Federal Trade Commission, and Jorge
Goldstein, a leading American biotech patent attorney. Speakers from
LUISS University addressed EU issues, while the Queen Mary Institute
provided lectures focusing on China and India.


4. (U) Participants addressed a number of complex matters including
the intersection of IPR and competition law, the patenting of
genetic resources, and fair use. Differences in legislation,
approach and philosophy emerged, but there was much discussion of
similarities. There was a particular interest in the U.S. approach
to fair use.

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COMMENT
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5. (U) Participants and speakers were scholars and professionals who
wield influence in the IPR realm, in Italy and in some cases in
other parts of the EU. For example, the GOI often creates
consulting committees when studying reforms or proposing new
legislation and university professors are usually a large part of
these committees. As such, this forum provided an important
opportunity for a U.S. perspective to be heard.


6. (U) Italian academics, while willing to discuss the value of
patents and recognizing the need for trademark protection, are often
weak supporters of strong copyright protection. The conference
offered one immediate example of the importance of a U.S.
perspective in this debate. Gustavo Ghidini, conference organizer
and one of Italy's IP czars, has often taken position against strong
copyright protection. Under the previous Prodi government, Ghidini
was an active and influential member of the Culture Ministry
committee tasked with drafting a comprehensive IP reform package.
On that project, Ghidini had been an advocate of significantly
weaker copyright protection legislation which the draft package
reflected. Although the draft legislation was scuttled after the
fall of the Prodi government, we have had an ongoing dialogue with
Ghidini on this matter. At the conference, in his closing remarks,
Ghidini actually spoke in favor of copyright protection as a key,
alongside with patents, to advancing the process of innovation and
progress in knowledge-based societies.
THORNE