INTA Takes Anticounterfeiting Message to Argentina, Ecuador, and Uruguay

In April, INTA CEO Etienne Sanz de Acedo, Anticounterfeiting Manager Maysa Razavi, and Latin America and the Caribbean Chief Representative Officer José Luis Londoño traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Montevideo, Uruguay, to support several activities led by the Anticounterfeiting Committee.

The highlight of the trip was the “Third Forum on Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights: The Role of Intellectual Property Offices,” which was hosted by the National Directorate of Intellectual Property of Uruguay in Montevideo. IP offices from 12 countries were in attendance: Argentina, Belize, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. There were also officials in attendance from the United States, the World Customs Organization, Uruguayan Customs, and local judges. The meeting was a two-day seminar focused on ways the offices can champion anticounterfeiting efforts in their countries. The event was sponsored by INTA, the International Chamber of Commerce-Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy, and the Inter-American Association of Intellectual Property.

The event began with a review of last year’s Forum in Santiago by Maximiliano Santa Cruz, National Director of Chile’s National Institute of Industrial Property. Next, Hector Balmaceda, Directorof the National Directorate of Intellectual Property of Paraguay, and Rogelio Canales, Executive Director of El Salvador’s National Center of Registries, discussed the innovative ways in which their offices are tackling counterfeiting. INTA Board Member Maria Cecilia Romoleroux (CorralRosales, Ecuador) moderated a panel on oppositions and cancellations with the representatives from Belize, Ecuador, and Uruguay. Ray Meloni, Director of Peru’s National Institute for the Defense of Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property and John Alexander García Rodríguez Head of Cancelations and Oppositions of Colombia’s Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio discussed the role of IP Offices in consumer protection and respect for IP. A panel titled “Cooperation between National Enforcement Agents and IP Offices” was held with the various agencies from Uruguay and Irely Aquique Pineda, IP Enforcement Division Director at the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI). The first day closed with a prestigious panel of Uruguayan judges focused on judicial criminal actions.

The second day started with a panel on intra-border measures with the Miguel Ángel Margain, General Director of IMPI, and Aracely Quingalombo, Legal Expert of the Ecuadorian Institute of Intellectual Property. INTA Anticounterfeiting Committee Chair Virginia Cervieri (Cervieri Monsuarez & Associates, Uruguay) led a session on border measures with the help of representatives from Uruguay Customs, the Navy Investigation Division of Uruguay, and the World Customs Organization. Finally, DÁmaso Pardo, President of Argentina’s National Institute of Industrial Property, Mr. Santa Cruz, and Marianela Delor, National Director of Uruguay’s National Directorate of Industrial Property, wrapped up the day with highlights of the meeting and a presentation of the conclusions and recommendations for the next IPO Seminar in Paraguay. INTA hopes to facilitate further discussions between the IPOs to implement the recommendations of the event in Montevideo throughout the next year.

Before traveling to Uruguay, the INTA delegation visited Buenos Aires, Argentina. First, INTA and the Asociación Antipiratería Argentina (AAA) organized a policy dialogue titled “Combatting Online Counterfeiting” that took place at the offices of Marval, O’Farrell & Mairal in Buenos Aires on April 17. More than 50 people attended the event, including members of both INTA and AAA and law enforcement officers in charge of fighting online counterfeiting.

Martin Chajchir (Marval, O’Farrell & Mairal, Argentina) gave the opening remarks on behalf of INTA and provided a brief overview of the issue. He also referred to the recently updated best practices guide, “Addressing the Sale of Counterfeits on the Internet,” prepared by the Anticounterfeiting-Online Counterfeiting Project Team. Leonardo Barbieri, AAA Treasurer, commented on this hot topic from the perspective of the members of his association.

The first panel addressed the current status of the situation in the region and offered the views of Pedro Duarte Guimaraes, Project Leader of the European Union (EU)-funded project for intellectual property in Latin America, “IP Key Latin America,” at the European Intellectual Property Office; Diego Farreras (LVMH Fashion Group, Argentina);and Martín Gimenez, Chief of the Cybercrime Department of the Buenos Aires Police. The second panel, moderated by Claudia Serritelli (Estudio Chaloupka, Argentina), focused on the actions that the different stakeholders are taking to curb counterfeiting, and included presentations by Maria Laura Perna (adidas Group, Argentina) and Guadalupe García Crespo (MercadoLibre, Argentina). Finally, the third panel, moderated by Juan Porta (Ryan Lussich & Asociados, Argentina), featured Esteban Lescano, Director Committee on Legal Affairs and Public Policies of the Argentine Internet Chamber, and Gustavo Giay (Marval, O’Farrell & Mairal, Argentina), a member of the AAA and former INTA Board Member, engaging in an interesting discussion on the draft bill addressing Internet service provider liability for third-party-generated content, which is currently being considered by the Argentine Congress.

After the policy dialogue, the delegation met with several important enforcement officials. Ms. Razavi and Andrés O’Farrell (Marval, O’Farrell & Mairal, Argentina) traveled to meet the Honorable Dr. Federico Villena, Federal Judge of the Court of Lomas de Zamora, and Lomas de Zamora Mayor, Martín Insarralde, to discuss counterfeiting problems within La Salada, the largest informal market in South America. At the same time, Mr. Londoño and Mr. Giay met with representatives of Argentine Customs to ask them to share more information with the private sector. Finally, Mr. Sanz de Acedo, Mr. Giay, and Ms. Perna met with Patricia Bullrich, Minister at the Ministry of Security, to join the National Roundtable Against Illegal Commerce, a coordination body of all public agencies, which is supported by the private sector and focused on illicit trade, including counterfeiting.

Finally, separate from the delegation, INTA held a cross-border customs training in TulcÁn, Ecuador, for authorities from Colombia and Ecuador. Besides a brand identification training for several INTA members, the Anticounterfeiting Committee was able to take the opportunity to explain the complicated procedures involved with the Colombian legal system and identify the gaps in the Ecuadorian regime. On April 17, a Binational Training took place in the city of TulcÁn, Ecuador, by committee members from member firms, Estrategia Juridica and Correal Rosales.

For questions or information about INTA’s Anticounterfeiting Activities, please contact Maysa Razavi, INTA Anticounterfeiting Manager, at [email protected] or Tiffany Pho, Anticounterfeiting Senior Coordinator, at [email protected].

Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of items in the INTA Bulletin, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific concern or interest. Law & Practice updates are published without comment from INTA except where it has taken an official position.