ICC continues its charge against counterfeiting and piracy under the leadership of David Benjamin (Universal Music) and Marie-Thérèse Huppertz (Microsoft), chair and vice chair, respectively, of the ICC Task Force on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights.
At June’s ICC World Congress in Marrakesh, Mr. Benjamin delivered a policy statement calling on governments and business to strengthen enforcement of intellectual property protection and increase cooperation to raise awareness of the urgency of combating IPR infringement. In its Marrakesh Business Declaration, ICC underscores the importance of strong intellectual property protection and announces the launch of its campaign to work with governments to curb counterfeiting and piracy.
Guided by the Marrakesh statement, the ICC task force is now at work on elements of a global awareness-raising campaign, including the creation of a “toolkit” of materials to empower ICC national committees and members in their dealings with local, national and regional policy makers and stakeholders.
Materials will include background information on the impact of counterfeiting and piracy on various constituencies and existing legal frameworks, sample press releases and talking points, a joint letter for signature by CEOs of affected companies and a public service announcement for broadcast on international media outlets.
à ICC statement, “The Fight Against Counterfeiting and Piracy of Intellectual Property,” available at: Click Here.
Global Anti-Counterfeiting Congress – The World Customs Organization and Interpol, with the support of the World Intellectual Property Organization, hosted the First Global Anti-Counterfeiting Congress, on product and trademark counterfeiting, late May in Brussels. Several hundred public- and private-sector leaders came together to explore the extent and nature of counterfeiting, identify possible solutions to the problem and formulate recommendations for government and private-sector action. At a session on barriers to effective enforcement, OECD Deputy Secretary General Herwig Schlögl said the OECD was well positioned to provide information on the economic and social impact of counterfeiting, and could join forces with the WCO and WIPO to look at policy issues and develop policy recommendations on national regulations with a view to making them more internationally useful. More at: Click Here.
