Vision - May/June 2008 - (Page 23)

es nies that have told her they waited to file their trademarks until they came closer to entering a market. By that time, someone else in that country had taken possession of the brand. In the worst situations, “You can find yourself the victim of a suit because you didn’t obtain your rights in that country,” Anthony adds. ICE’s Ballman advises that CBP can “scrutinize more heavily” products coming into U.S. for counterfeits and trademark abuse if the trademarks are registered. “Otherwise someone has to alert us” about contraband imports, he says. “More and more, we’re seeing organized crime turning away from traditional activities and moving into piracy because it’s just as profitable as smuggling drugs and it [doesn’t entail] the same level of incarceration,” Ballman says. He adds that ICE is “looking at anything that has a health and safety concern.” ICE’s “Operation Guardian” program is on the lookout for “tainted, substandard or harmful” products such as counterfeit circuit boards that have been popping up with increasing frequency. www.ce.org Big Trouble in China Everyone involved in global IP rights focuses first on China. “China is the capital of counterfeiting and piracy,” says Anthony, who is a USPTO specialist on China. “But it is not the only country involved. She points out that the problem of trademark appropriation has accelerated as more companies set up production in China. Companies may plan only to manufacture goods there but not distribute those brands within China. However, devious entrepreneurs, if they see a product they like, may register that brand themselves and begin selling items in China or elsewhere, before a manufacturer decides to register his own brand in those countries. “The stakes in China are very, very high,” Anthony explains. “The difficulty that China presents is one of scale: unprecedented scale. A bad actor does not need to go to a trade show or read a magazine to know about you. He can simply sit at the computer and find out about … up-and-coming companies.” She says that USPTO’s hotline often gets calls from small U.S. manufacturers who say, “I don’t know how they found out about me.” China’s Ministry of Public Safety, one of the country’s government units working on IPR issues, has asked ICE to cooperate in domestic investigations. “ICE is the only U.S. federal agency that has been invited by the PRC (Peoples’ Republic of China) to come in and work undercover,” Ballman says. “They don’t have the laws to work undercover; they use the information we generate.” Private sector IPR executives affirm the views of federal officials about China’s role in IP abuse. “China has been at the top list of everyone’s list of concerns,” especially because it is “the largest manufacturer and exporter of counterfeit goods,” says Travis Johnson, legislative and policy vice president at the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (www.iacc.org). He is particularly concerned about “the lack of effective and deterrent enforcement.” “The majority of actions [Chinese officials] take are based on complaints from rightful owners,” Johnson says. China has several enforcement agencies that can assert authority, including the Public Security Bureau and the Ministry of Public Safety. “The Chinese government focuses more on administrative enforcement where penalties tend to be a fairly minimal fine that has no effective deterrence,” Johnson says. IACC members have “had more success in recent years by working with local AIC (Administry of Industry and Commerce) officials, he adds, rather than with China’s Federal enforcement agency, the State Administration of Industry and Commerce. Herb Wamsley, executive director of the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPOA) (www.ipo.org), agrees that “some progress is being made, but it’s a gradual process,” noting that China adopted a major patent law change in 2005 and is considering more updates. China’s Patent Office has also been upgraded, adding hundreds of employees to review legal requests. Protecting Yourself USPTO’s Anthony recommends that U.S. companies seeking to operate abroad apply for patent and trademark protection in countries “where piracy and counterfeiting are high even if you’re not there and don’t plan to go there.” When USPTO conducted its first Intellectual Property Awareness Campaign (IPAC) three years ago, the biggest lesson was that “U.S. industry does not realize the grave threat that piracy and counterfeiting means to all of us,” Anthony says. Only 15 percent of the small and mediumsized business polled understood that patents and trademarks “must be protected on a country-by-country basis,” she adds, noting that the problem often is “evaluated after the fact or when they are in trouble.” “I’m glad to say that after several years, audiences are getting it more,” Anthony says. She attributes part of the success to programs such as STOP, the “Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy” a collaborative campaign from USPTO and other agencies. Information about the program is available at www.StopFakes.gov. The USPTO runs several seminars around the U.S. every year to familiarize companies with how to prepare for global expansion. Anthony intones the mantra of these meetings: “Intellectual property rights are private rights.” She adds, “That means as owners of IP rights, you must take steps to protect it.” May/June 2008 Marie Bertrand/Getty Images 23 http://www.StopFakes.gov http://www.iacc.org http://www.ce.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Vision - May/June 2008

Vision - May/June 2008 Contents Shapiro's Spectrum In This Issue The Economist C4 Trends Visionary Making the Smartphone Truly Intelligent Shipping Strategies for CE Companies IP in BRIC Countries CEA Newsline Tech Speak Eye on Business Tech Policy Market Insider Just the Stats

Vision - May/June 2008

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