On Friday, October 7th, the IACC filed formal comments with the United States Trade Representative (USTR), in connection with the agency’s annual Notorious Markets Review.
Deputy Head of Unit. Illicit trade, Health & Environment Investigations & Operations
Brussels, Belgium
Describe your organization and mission.
The European Antifraud Office (OLAF) investigates matters relating to fraud, corruption and other illegal activities affecting EU financial interests and concerning:
All EU expenditure – the main spending categories are European Structural and Investment Funds, agriculture and rural development funds, direct expenditure and external aid;
Some areas of EU revenue, such as money from customs duties or value added tax (VAT) – Customs fraud (I.e. Counterfeiting, smuggling.. etc).
OLAF also carries out investigations into suspected serious misconduct by EU staff and members of the EU institutions.
OLAF is also in charge of implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 515/97 setting out how national authorities must cooperate with each other and with the European Commission to implement EU customs and agricultural legislation.
How is IP crime enforcement integrated into OLAF's mission?
One of OLAF’s main focuses is to investigate cases involving counterfeit goods from outside the EU. Crime in this field, which generates vast illicit profits and huge losses of tax revenues due to the black market in fake goods, has increased dramatically in recent years. It harms the European economy by damaging legitimate businesses and stifling innovation, putting many jobs at risk in Europe. More often than not counterfeiting poses serious risks to the environment and the health and safety of citizens.
Are there specific industries or relevant areas related to IP enforcement on which OLAF is focused?
Due to limited resources, we only work on major cases involving counterfeit goods that pose a risk to the environment or public health and safety. The authorities in each EU country are responsible for enforcing EU law to tackle counterfeiting. However, to increase the efficiency of these efforts, and especially tackle international networks bringing counterfeit and pirated goods into the EU, and well as dismantle illegal factories, OLAF has powers to carry out administrative investigations. These sometimes involve participation in investigations run outside the EU.
Recent examples include cases involving counterfeit alcoholic beverages, medicines, mechanical parts, Covid-19 related equipment etc.
What are ways brands and private industry can work with you? How do they begin?
OLAF can receive information from any source (brands and private industry included) on suspect counterfeit goods. OLAF will analyze the information and launch an investigation if appropriate. The objective of OLAF investigations into counterfeit goods is to avoid those goods entering in the EU and to dismantle the source of the counterfeit goods, the illicit factories, often located in non-European countries. For that purpose, OLAF has signed more than 80 agreements with non-European countries. A recent example is the dismantling of an illicit factory in Honduras producing counterfeit rum that shipped thousands of bottles of counterfeit rum to the EU.
The Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property aims to regulate, support, develop, sponsor, protect, enforce and upgrade the fields of intellectual property in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in accordance with international best practices, and it is organizationally linked to the Prime Minister.
Mission: A National Authority that protect and strengthen intellectual property by leading intellectual property strategies, policies, laws, and regulations, granting and driving intellectual property rights, supporting the growth of intellectual property generation and use, and protecting the interests of the Kingdom internationally to contribute in enhancing the competitiveness of the national economy.
What IP resources do you provide to brands doing business in Saudi Arabia?
1) Providing protection through registration 2) Receiving complaints and reports and working to enforce them 3) Bringing the private and public sectors together through the IP Respect Council
The Kingdom has also provided, through the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property, many resources, including IP advisory clinics, in addition to training and licensing offices to play the role of intellectual property agents. The Kingdom also provides transparency in publishing penalties and periodic reports on IP enforcement activities and achievements (the annual IP enforcement report). In addition, the Kingdom provided a unified platform for publishing the approved national laws and regulations “National Center for Documents and Archives”.
What are opportunities for the expansion of IP protection and enforcement in Saudi Arabia?
The Kingdom has expanded protection and enforcement through the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property “SAIP” by including IP protection and IP enforcement in the pillars of its own strategy as well as the National IP Strategy, which will be implemented through SAIP and other relevant government entities. SAIP also worked on joint activities between the IP enforcement ecosystem, which resulted in the establishment of the Permanent Committee of IP Enforcement, which aims to link enforcement agencies and find solutions to overcome the obstacles and gaps to enhance the IP ecosystem. In addition, SAIP worked on expanding its activities reach by opening other offices across the Kingdom as well as automating its operations to facilitate the accessibility for IP stakeholders to obtain its services. Currently, SAIP is working with its partners to expand the IP Respect Officer initiative to include the private sector to be part of the initiative to make sure the level of compliance reach the desired target.
What 3 pieces of advice would you give to brands that are doing or want to do business in Saudi Arabia?
• Doing all the procedures required to obtain trademark protection, the most important of which is registration, presence in the Kingdom and specifying the contact details or authorized agent inside the Kingdom. • Dealing positively with inquiries from relevant authorities such as SAIP, in order to clarify the difference between the genuine and counterfeit IP, and to expand cooperation with other relevant executive bodies in the intellectual property enforcement ecosystem such as Saudi Customs, the Ministry of Commerce and SAIP. • Submit your complaints about intellectual property violations as they occur through SAIP’s website or through commercial courts official website. • Contact SAIP through TMenforcement@saip.gov.sa and register your contact person, brand and products data with the IP Respect team so that SAIP can protect you better.
Who has influenced you most in your work or life?
There are always influential people in our lives that have always been the people close to us. Our families, friends and colleagues. My father have always guided me and hold the opinions I trust the most. The circle I live among always inspired me to execute and to achieve. I believe that the Kingdom is shifting towards its new goals that been sat by its ambitious crown price, HRH prince Mohammed Bin Salman who once said, “Sky is the limit for our ambitions.” I myself dream of being one of those working to realize this ambition.
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TOOLS, RESOURCES & INFORMATION
IP Resources from Our Members
We are excited to include this Resource Section in our Quarterly Newsletter where we share interesting insights, research studies, white papers and other thought pieces from our members around the world. Members interested in submitting relevant material for our next newsletter should contact Dawn Sgarlata at dsgarlata@iacc.org.
Disclaimer: The IACC is providing these links as a courtesy to our members; the IACC has not independently verified any claims or assertions contained therein. Further, the views expressed in each of the linked resources are those of the respective authors, and their inclusion should not be interpreted as an endorsement by the IACC.
Notice and takedown strategies might appear to be a “silver bullet” to eliminate any online counterfeit, piracy and fraud. However, Jose Werner (Dannemann Siemsen, Brazil) explains that, depending on the industry sector involved and the particularities of the case, strategies restricted to notice and takedowns may cause more harm than good, this being why IP owners should not exclude real-world enforcement.
As online sales and the marketing of products through influencers is rapidly increasing, so is the opportunity for counterfeiting and illicit content. Learn what actions you can take to protect your brand.
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