Assistance and support to Italian enterprises

in the fight against counterfeitingRome, October the 5th, 2010

Speaker: Isabella Flajban

Ministry of Economic DevelopmentDirectorate General for the fight against Counterfeiting -

Italian Patent and Trademark Office

COUNTERFEITING is a global problem…

Global impact of COUNTERFEITING

presents important economic consequences, especially in these hard times…

causes the consumers

significant risks…

is strongly related to other criminal activities such as trade in narcotics, money laundering and terrorism

COUNTERFEITING

is a clandestine activity

so it is very hard to obtain

accurate statistics on it…

and to elaborate adequate

fighting strategies…

As reported in the OCDE Report on the Economic Impact of Counterfeiting and

Piracy (2008) “the overall degree to which products are being counterfeited

and pirated is unknown and there do not appear to be any methodologies that

could be employed to develop an acceptable overall estimate.”

BUT

“insights can be gained through an examination of various types of information, including data on

enforcement and information developed through surveys”.

In 1997, the Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau of the International Chamber of Commerce indicated that the overall cost of counterfeiting in the world was about 5% to 7% of world trade

The EU Report (2009) indicates that the number of goods, suspected of infringing IPR rights, detained in 2009 decreased to 118 ml. articles, compared to the 178 ml. articles recorded in 2008

According to the Report elaborated in 2009 by CENSIS, counterfeiting in Italy has a revenue of 7 billions of Euros, causes a loss for the State Budget of 5 billions of Euros and the loss of about 130.000 jobs…

The problem of its potential impact is far greater for

SMEs

SMEs are invariably less well resourced;SMEs cannot afford to employ lawyers to represent them in the Courts;SMEs are not able to make use of an in-house legal team;SMEs often don’t understand that it is essential to register the Intellectual Property;SMEs don’t know that patents or trade marks provide protection only in home markets and are not valid for example for China…

Italy is the European Country with the greater number of SMEs (5.280.743,00 on June 2010) whereof n. 547.529 in manufacturing industry

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS…

Over 25% of the total amount of Italian enterprises’ workers are employed in the manufacturing sector;

About 93% of Italian enterprises that export abroad are small enterprises;

Italian SMEs export is about 72% (in value) of the total.

So we can say that…the Italian economy is driven in large part by the manufacture of high-quality consumer goods produced by small and medium-sized enterprises that export abroad

What initiatives have been taken by Public Administration to support the Italian SME’s?

Policy

Strategy

Operational Plans

POLICY:

COMBATING COUNTERFEITING:

a new role for

the Ministry of Economic Development…

“In order to the Legislative Decree n.112/08 the Ministry of Economic Development obtained directly the tasks of dismissed High Commissioner to combat counterfeiting and piracy”

The new organization of the Ministry of Economic Development (Presidential Decree of 28 November 2008 n. 197) provided a dedicated structure:

the Directorate General for Combating Counterfeiting - UIBM

The new Directorate:

what tasks? DPR del 28 novembre 2008 nr. 197

and also ….

promotion anti-counterfeiting policy;secretary's office National Anti-counterfeiting Council ;dedicated call center and e-mail;to receive notification of anti-counterfeiting activities;monitoring systems and anti-counterfeiting methods;support Italian enterprises abroad;collection of data held by the national and international competent authorities, by the trade and business associations and database management;analysis, preparation of reports on the phenomenon and proposed regulations resulting;cooperation with other Directorates General, with the Police Forces, the Customs Agency and other governments engaged in the fight against counterfeiting;internal and external communication and organization of events;elaboration of policies for the promotion of industrial property, relations with EU and international organizations in industrial property matters.

•inventions and utility models

•drawings and models , European and international national patents;

•national brands, European and international opposition to the registration of trademarks;

•administration of patent licenses and registrations as well as secretary of the Appeals Committee.

technique IPR protection concerning

The previous Italian Patent and Trademark Office (U.I.B.M.) is placed directly under the

new General Directorate

The new Directorate:

what tasks?

Address, promotion and coordination of the national policy of fighting against Counterfeiting…elaborating proposals in order to guarantee a uniform, synergistic and timely action

POLICY: The role of CNAC….

STRATEGY:

INVOLVE THE PRINCIPAL STAKEHOLDERS

•ENTERPRISES

•TRADERS

•CONSUMERS

•UNIVERSITIES

•MUNICIPALITIES

Combating Counterfeiting through

a public-private partnership

The Directorate General is holding talks with

•Enterprises and Traders•Consumers Associations •Fashion

•Internet/Web•Medicines•Tobacco•Agro and Food Industry

A NEW SERVICE FROM AUGUST 2008 …

CALL CENTER FROM MONDAY

TO FRIDAY

8.30 A.M to 17.30 P.M.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO

E-MAIL OR TO SEND A FAX

Protection and promotion of I. P.

Workshops for SMEs 2009

25 June 2009 Rome

12 September 2009 Vicenza

1° October 2009 Milano 10 November 2009 Caserta – San Leucio

16 December 2009 Parma

10-11 December 2009 Roma (CNEL)

Protection and promotion of I. P.

Workshops for SMEs 2010

6 October 2010 MilanFASHION

13 May 2010 RomeIP Europe Aware Project

8 October 2010 MilanMECHANICS

13 April 2010 ArezzoJEWELLERY

8 April VeronaOLIVE OIL AND WINES

TECHNOLOGIES

19 October 2010VicenzaRUSSIA

Dedicated to business abroad…

13 IPR Desks were constituted by the Ministry of International Trade, now Ministry of Economic Development in 10 Countries. The Finance Act of 2004 has given them a function of advice and monitoring for the protection of trademark and indications of origin and for the legal assistance to Italian enterprises abroad, especially in areas where the problem of counterfeiting is more significant.These structures, operating at the Italian Trade Commission offices, have the task of providing information about the local industrial/intellectual property system and to monitor the market with reference to the problems of counterfeiting.

OPERATIONAL PLANS:

1. ITALIAN SOUNDING PROJECT

2. AWARENESS CAMPAIGN TO FIGHT COUNTERFEITING OF FASHION TRADEMARKS AND DESIGN

3. CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION PROJECT

Ministero dello Sviluppo

EconomicoISABELLA FLAJBAN

Direzione generale per la lotta alla contraffazione – U.I.B.M.Divisione VI- Assistenza e supporto alle imprese destinatarie

anticontraffazione

Tel. 0039.06.4705.5794Fax. 0039.06.4705.5390e-mail isabella.flajban@sviluppoeconomico.gov.it

Thank you for your attention!