Better enforcement and efforts to raise consumer awareness of IP (intellectual property) must continue and intensify, EUIPO Head of Service ( European Union Intellectual Property Office) Nathan Wajsman has told the Cyprus News Agency in an interview, pointing out that 5.8% of EU imports from the rest of the world consists of fakes. He noted that the consumer awareness includes awareness-raising activities in the Member States, the IP in Education programme designed to include IP in the curriculum at all levels of education and tools such as Agorateka, making it easier for consumers to find legal offers of digital content. Wajsman told the Cyprus News Agency that joint studies with the OECD show that the problem of counterfeiting is massive, with 5.8% of EU’s imports from the rest of the world (worth 119 billion EUR per year) consists of fakes. He said that MS do work on IP crime so does the Europol since 2017 they have been supporting their IP unit assisting Member States operations on IP crime. He also noted that since 2022 IP crime is an EMPACT priority (European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats. “This has given and extra ‘push’ for this area to be more active,” he noted. EUIPO head also told the Agency that they support enforcers with training, exchange of best practices and by making tools available to simplify the enforcement such as the IP Enforcement Portal. “We also publish reports in order to make people aware on the importance of IP crime and to support policy makers with their decisions,” he noted. Wajsman said that the Observatory publishes numerous studies covering three broad areas, namely the economic importance of IP, the extent and consequences of infringement of IP, including links to organised crime, and the awareness of and the attitude towards IP among Europeans. “The purpose of all these studies is to raise awareness of IP and of the need to respect and enforce IP among the general public and among policymakers. We are able to track the use of our studies in the central EU institutions (Commission, Parliament, Council), and we know anecdotally that our studies are also used in the Member States,” he noted. Replying to a question he said that the EU Observatory would like to insist on the need to keep IP crime as a priority in EMPACT (European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats) to bring light to this type of crime, that is not a harmless crime. According to Wajsman, collaboration is key to reaching these results. “In fact this operation was the combination of efforts of 17 Member States, but also of exchanges between rights holders and enforcers. This is why having a co-operation framework such as EMPACT is so important”, he said. He went on to say that IPEP (IP enforcement portal) is a tool to push for this exchange of intelligence between the parties in a secure way. He explained that decision makers can share information on how to recognise originals from fake and to confirm the infringements when goods are detained. For enforcers, he added, this brings an easy possibility for a quick exchange and confirmation of the infringements. Replying to a question whether IPR infringements affected the operation of legitimate companies, organisations as well as platforms, Wajsman said that it has affected them by depriving them of sales revenue, which in turn leads to reduced employment and sometimes long-term damage to the reputation of their brand. “This can be particularly serious for smaller companies. An EUIPO-OECD study published earlier this year showed that SMEs whose IP rights were infringed had a lower chance of survival than other SMEs. In other words, IPR infringement can literally kill a small company”, he noted, EUIPO Head also said that platforms are also affected explaining that legitimate platforms do not want to become known as marketplaces for fakes, and therefore many of them have their own enforcement activities, sometimes in cooperation with public authorities. Replying to another question he said that the report has shown that while 14% of EU consumers knowingly access illicit digital content, many more make use of legal offers (43%). “Sometimes it is difficult for consumers to know whether the site they are accessing is legitimate or not. This is why the Observatory has created Agorateka, a portal designed to assist consumers in finding legitimate digital content in each Member State,” he said. The European Union Intellectual Property Office offers intellectual property rights protection to businesses and innovators across the EU.
Source: Cyprus News Agency