BRAZIL: IPR TRAINING REQUEST

By WW Staff

Reference ID: 07BRASILIA1105

Created: 2007-06-15 11:15

Released: 2011-08-30 01:44

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

Origin: Embassy Brasilia


VZCZCXRO6491

PP RUEHRG

DE RUEHBR #1105/01 1661115

ZNR UUUUU ZZH

P 151115Z JUN 07

FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA

TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9233

INFO RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 0118

RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 4589

RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 6808

RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 6140

RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 4836

RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 BRASILIA 001105


SIPDIS


SIPDIS


DEPT FOR EB/TPP/IPE AND INL/C


E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: KIPR ECON BR

SUBJECT: BRAZIL: IPR TRAINING REQUEST


REF: A) 07 SECSTATE 55928

B) 05 BRASILIA 1163

C) 07 BRASILIA 944

D) 07 BRASILIA 249

E) 07 RECIFE 37


1. In accordance with requirements presented in reftel A, Embassy Brasilia submits the following proposal for 2007 IPR enforcement training. The proposal is for a grant of $43,900 to provide a two-day high-level workshop for law enforcement officials (Federal Police, Customs, Highway Patrol) and judicial authorities (local and state prosecutors and judges) in the state of Pernambuco, a key locale in Mission Brazil's efforts to fight IPR piracy. The workshop is modeled on the five training programs, held in the States of Minas Gerais, Bahia, Parana, Rio Grande do Sul, and Mato Grosso do Sul, funded under the same IPR program. The workshop will focus on expanding law enforcement's knowledge of existing laws against piracy and protection of intellectual property rights so that civil and criminal cases against intellectual property rights abusers hold up in court (see para 19). By reviewing what laws exist, what is enforceable, what has been done to combat piracy and protect intellectual property rights, working relationships between those in the field and those prosecuting are strengthened. Mission Brazil proposes to use leading Brazilian experts and NGOs such as the Motion Picture Association's enforcement affiliate in Brazil - the Association for the Defense of Intellectual Property (ADEPI), the American Chamber of Commerce, the National Association for Guaranteeing Intellectual Rights (ANGARDI), and the Northeast Association for Intellectual Property (ANEPI) - to provide key expertise in organizing and conducting the workshop. Use of the very qualified Brazilian experts resident in these organizations will allow us to better adapt the training program to Brazilian sensitivities, while saving money on the international air-fare necessary to bring outside experts from the U.S.


2. Identify Priority Countries/Regions that Threaten Intellectual Property Rights: Brazil continues to be a high priority country for USG efforts in improving IPR enforcement. The Northeast of Brazil has seen a surge in recent piracy activity that has resulted in high profile enforcement actions. This has been especially pronounced in Pernambuco.


3. Economic Impact: The enormity of the effects of piracy in Brazil is hard to exaggerate. Brazil's illegal market in just 3 types of products (clothes, tennis shoes, and toys) resulted in tax revenue losses of at least 18.6 billion reais (roughly USD 8.86 billion). This figure is equivalent to 45% of the annual deficit in Brazil's bankrupt social security system. A February 2007 International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) report noted that losses due to copyright piracy of business software rose almost 30% in 2006; entertainment software industry losses increased 24 % over the same period. A national survey showed a 45% increase countrywide in the monetary amount of illegitimate toys, clothing and sports footwear traded in Brazil and that counterfeit CDs are the most produced and purchased items in the contraband market.


4. In 2006, the American Chamber of Commerce and ANGARDI conducted a poll in Recife, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte to determine consumers' buying habits and what they thought about the economic effects of buying pirated goods. The results for Recife (the capital of Pernambuco) were startling and point out the importance of fighting piracy in the Northeast. While the report showed a decline in sale of pirated goods in Sao Paulo, Brazil's major metropolitan area, it disturbingly pointed out that Recife consumers buy more pirated goods and are less likely to understand the social and economic impacts of piracy than consumers in the other cities. The 2006 commercial value of 13 categories of pirated goods in Recife (ranging from toys to pocketbooks/wallets to batteries) amounted to USD 83.9 million according to the report. If pirated goods are sold at half the price of legitimate goods, this amount reflects a loss of USD 167.7 million in the formal economy, and a loss in tax revenue of USD 66.7 million.


5. Crime and Security: While the Triborder region (Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina) continues to be a major route for pirated goods, law enforcement officials and NGOs have noted the increasing involvement of the Northeast in the movement of pirated goods due to stepped-up GOB customs enforcement efforts in the Triborder region. Citing one example, the town of Caruaru (about an hour's drive from Recife) is the well-know wholesale market center and source of most pirated products in the Northeast. Experts describe an almost wild west atmosphere in Caruaru with perceived threats to anti-piracy activists (reftel E).


6. Relevance to Other U.S. Objectives: Intellectual property


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protection is a key U.S. government objective and is one of the primary goals in our Mission Strategic Plan (MSP). IPR violations cost U.S. (and local) industry, reduce the incentives to invest in research and development, and contribute to a culture of lawlessness. Piracy, in particular, has connections to illicit trade in general, and its illegally-gained revenues are esily laundered into other illegal activities. U.. industry has been engaged in a long struggle t enter the highly-protected markets of Latin Ameica, and piracy strikes at the gradual gains made over time in this regard.


7. Political Will: Both the executive branch and the legislative branch have indicated a political will to continue the fight against piracy. In 2004, the GOB established the National Anti-Piracy Council (CNCP), a public-private endeavor overseen by the Ministry of Justice to coordinate national IPR protection efforts. Since then, the GOB has evidenced more effective anti-piracy enforcement efforts. For example, the value of seizures by local and federal authorities of counterfeit and contraband goods in the first nine months of 2006 increased 54% over the same period in 2005.


8. Capacity to Achieve Measurable Progress: As a result of encouragement and actions taken by the CNCP, Brazil's law enforcement agencies are creating specialized IP units to better focus and coordinate their enforcement activities and to help develop essential expertise. The CNCP plans to develop an operational database to help coordinate law enforcement actions. It also is considering methods for measuring/gauing progress in enforcement efforts. Progress onenforcement will also be measurable by the annua enforcement statistics released by the GOB Natinal Anti-Piracy Council (CNCP) and through statistcs on estimated intellectual piracy loses compiled by industry organizations such as IIPA.


II. Components of an Effective IPR Regime


9. Legal framework: This proposal is being made with consideration of instituting a more comprehensive framework for conducting bilateral technical cooperation on IPR enforcement, which the USG is trying to develop with the GoB. Brazil has many elements of what could be an effective IPR regime, but in most cases, the capabilities of these elements need to be enhanced and better coordinated to provide effective enforcement.


10. Enforcement capacity: Brazil's laws covering copyright issues are considered adequate; the principal problems are enforcement and criminal prosecution. Brazilian law enforcement agencies operate as professional units with substantial capabilities. Brazil's customs service is heavily engaged in combating piracy and is upgrading its intelligence gathering and analysis, infrastructure and personnel capabilities. However, in all these units, many individuals have not been adequately trained in the specialized area of IP crimes, particularly in geographic areas with less concentrated piracy activity. A lack of effective, institutional coordination between Brazilian law enforcement agencies has also further complicated and undermined attempts to mobilize Brazilian law enforcement to combat piracy in a comprehensive manner.


11. Border controls: Brazil's customs service has the ability to block and intercept pirated products, and is seeking greater latitude in handling seized goods. Due to the sheer volume, however, Brazil's 16,886 km land border has been an area of particular weakness in the country's copyright and trademark enforcement. Once the border is penetrated, movement of pirated goods throughout Brazil is hard to deter. There is evidence that as the border with Paraguay is better enforced, pirated goods are now crossing the remote western and northern areas bordering Colombia, Venezuela, and Guyana as well as arriving by sea to the Northwest (reftel C).


12. Government-Industry Cooperation: Cooperation between the government enforcement agencies and the private sector has improved substantially in the last two years through their collective efforts within the CNCP and creation of a national anti-piracy plan.


13. Effective International Cooperation: Brazil is a signatory to WIPO and GOB officials have participated in IPR enforcement seminars, including a recent seminar in Asuncion. Representatives of various GOB states and other entities are slated to attend an IPR enforcement seminar in Lima in July. Additionally, the executive secretary of the CNCP attended a USPTO sponsored IPR enforcement


SIPDIS

program in Alexander, Virginia this June. In November, 2006, USPTO detailed a patent attorney to Sao Paulo to serve as IPR Attache. He works closely with the Brazilian patent agency, INPI.


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14. Public Awareness: The GOB and various companies have sponsored public awareness campaigns. The CNCP - with support of the Union of Customs Employees and the National Confederation of Industry - launched a major anti-piracy campaign in 2006 to raise public consciousness about piracy and contraband in Brazil and emphasize the importance of intellectual property protection. This program was aimed at the 16 - 24 year old age group, found by a 2005 U.S. Chamber sponsored survey to be the largest group of consumers of pirated goods. Campaign organizers carry their message to schools and universities and sponsor anti-piracy messages in both print and broadcast media. They also distribute fliers, t-shirts, buttons, bumper stickers, caps, and textbooks bearing their distinctive anti-piracy logo.


15. The "Creativity in Combating Piracy," award is part of this campaign and is sponsored by a Brazilian consultancy in connection with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, NIKE, the Motion Picture Association and a Brazilian state owned bank. It targets university students and is intended to promote leadership, social responsibility and awareness of the causes and impacts of piracy.


16. Senior-level Engagement by Public Officials: GOB IPR enforcement typically involves two ministries: the Finance Ministry (Customs and Tax Authority) and the Ministry of Justice (Federal Police and Federal Highway Patrol). Through the CNCP (which is overseen by the Vice Minister of Justice), the Ministry of Justice coordinates interagency IPR enforcement activities and state level authorities, who often have primary jurisdiction. In turn, the Division of Intellectual Property at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) is involved in these efforts and liaises with international actors. Several Brazilian states - notably Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul and, most recently, Bahia - have formed state level anti-piracy groups.


III. Project criteria and metrics


17. Targeted U.S. priorities: Brazil accounts for the largest estimated trade losses due to piracy in the hemisphere - over $927 million according to a recently updated IIPA report, yet arrest and incarceration figures remain difficult to obtain and appear dismally low in relation to the scope of the piracy problem. This project directly targets the main problem areas in Brazil of law enforcement and criminal prosecution.


18. Strong support of host government: The Brazilian government has committed to combating piracy in a systematic and sustainable manner through establishment of the public-private National Anti-Piracy Council (CNCP), adoption of a 99 point national action plan, and annual reports on anti-piracy activities. The GOB has been prompted by a need to combat piracy because of the harm it causes Brazil through increased criminality, lost tax revenues, increased unemployment in the formal economy, economic damage to Brazilian artists, and the country's international image. The creation of a working intellectual property rights division at the Ministry of External Relations is also indicative of the GOB interest in controlling the problem.


19. Addresses key gap in, or is a fundamental part of, a strategy to improve IPR enforcement in a country/region: The underlying concept of the workshop is to bring together law enforcement and judicial officials, along with NGOs engaged in anti-piracy efforts, in order to improve the lines of communication between those on the ground fighting piracy and those tasked with prosecuting. Of primary importance for any effective anti-piracy effort within the Brazilian social and institutional context is the creation of networks that allow for permanent, voluntary and routine communication. In particular, the increased piracy activity and chronic corruption among some officials coupled with a perceived lack of attention to piracy activities in the state have made training and the creation of an anti-piracy network in Pernambuco a critically high priority (reftel C). This project would help close that gap.


20. Has the capacity to achieve near term, measurable success, with clear metrics: We would expect to see the establishment of formal or informal working groups or teams, comprised of the all the relevant law enforcement and perhaps judicial officials in Pernambuco, shortly after completion of the training program. As a next phase, we would monitor the success of these teams, looking for increases in actions taken, such as number of raids, seizures, arrests, and convictions; in instances where data may not have historically been gathered, a baseline would have to be determined.


21. Has strong project oversight, accountability measures, and interagency support: The Department of Homeland Security within Embassy Brasilia will participate in the program and assess its


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strengths and weaknesses on an on-going basis. DHS works extensively with the GOB on piracy related issues and has the capability to assess both the program elements and the quality of GOB participation. In addition to DHS backing, Mission has worked closely with the regional USPTO IPR Attache who also supports this proposal.


22. Course Outline


Purpose: To train professionals from a variety of public law enforcement and judicial organs in Pernambuco to detect, prevent, and punish intellectual property violations.


General Goals:

(1) to create the critical mass necessary to strengthen the capacity of the Brazilian government to enforce intellectual property laws;

(2) to train and motivate public officials to identify which intellectual property laws can be applied within their jurisdiction and capacity; and

(3) to facilitate informational exchange among various enforcement organs so that they can coordinate anti-piracy efforts at the national level, mirroring the highly-effective organizational structure of those groups practicing piracy.


Specific Goals:

Participants of the workshop will:

(1) understand the organization and modus operandi of the criminal groups practicing piracy;

(2) be familiar with the pertinent legislation;

(3) know how to identify illegal reproductions; and

(4) understand the importance of constantly updating their operating methods to keep up with the advances in technology applied by pirates.


Teaching Tools and Methods: theoretical training; workshops; case studies; and site visits.


Syllabus: 16 hours


Module 1: Piracy: An overview

Students will be trained to understand the basic principles of the penal and procedural code, as well as specific IP laws, they apply to piracy.


Module 2: Analysis of Existing IP Legislation

Students will learn which elements of existing legislation can be applied to which modes of piracy.


Module 3: Technology

Students will become familiar with the technology used in disseminating legally-protected works and how they can be protected.


Participants:

Class size: 35

Location: Courses will be held in the State of Pernambuco.

Participants will be selected from throughout Pernambuco, from Offices of the Public Prosecutor, the Federal Highway Police, the Military Police, the Civil Police, Scientific Police; Federal Tax Authority. Consideration is given to their potential as training multipliers within their organizations.


Co-Participating Institutions: To provide the broadest possible perspective, ADEPI conducts the course in cooperation with other entities dedicated to protecting intellectual property, including ABC (Brazilian Cinematographic Association), UBV (Brazilian Video Union),APDIF (Association for the Protection of Phonographic Intellectual Property), and BSA (Business Software Alliance). These organizations recommend and/or provide instructors in their specific areas; provide the latest information on technology and best-practice enforcement methods, and arrange site visits. The conference site is to be provided by government authorities, as has been customary with ADEPI programs. Each training session will incorporate USG participation by including instructors from DHS and other relevant law enforcement offices from within the U.S. Mission in Brazil and/or from Washington.


Expenses (for a class of 35, in U.S. dollars):

Airfare for students to central location: $12,500

Airfare for USG instructors (max.3): $ 3,600

Per diem for instructors: $ 3,000

Simultaneous interpretation: $ 3,600

Hotel and Meals for students: $15,000

Class materials: $ 2,700

Incidentals/coffee and water: $ 1,000


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Ground transportation: $ 1,250

Data show: $ 1,250

TOTAL: $43,900


Sobel

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