Sixth Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy Opens in Paris
OVER 800 delegates from intergovernmental organizations, national governments, enforcement agencies and business from more than 100 countries convened yesterday in Paris to address the serious global impact of the growing trade in counterfeit and pirated goods and the need to build respect for intellectual property in a balanced and sustainable way.
The Congress is hosted by France's Industrial Property Office (INPI) and chaired by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It is co-organized by INPI , WIPO , INTERPOL and the World Customs Organization (WCO).
Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WCO), Kunio Mikuriya , welcomed the growing interest being shown in the WCO's new tool to combat counterfeiting and piracy.
The new tool, known as Interface Public-Members (IPM), was launched by the WCO after signing the Cotonou Declaration (a Chirac Foundation initiative to ensure access to safe medicine in Africa) in June 2010 as a symbolic gesture of the Customs community's commitment to stopping the trade in fake medicines as part of a united front.
IPM consists of an online database enabling Rights Holders to provide Customs field officers with real-time data on their products as well as information making it possible to distinguish between “genuine” and “fake” goods. Customs field officers can access this information and training tool, free of charge, anywhere in the world via simple and secure user interfaces in their own language.
"This new tool is another example of the WCO's commitment to working closely with its partners in business to share information, knowledge and know-how," said Secretary General Mikuriya . "This is even more significant as the WCO honoured this partnership throughout 2010 and now begins celebrating its Year of Knowledge in 2011," Mikuriya added.