Industry Gets European Union Buy-In At Event Against Piracy, Counterfeiting

The European Commission this week will launch a forum for coordinating attacks against counterfeit and pirated goods, to be announced at a daylong event featuring representatives from a wide range of industries. No representatives of the public interest or consumers appear to be included in the event or related initiatives.

EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy will announce the launch of the European Counterfeiting and Piracy Observatory at the “ContraFake 2009” High-Level Conference on Piracy and Counterfeiting on 2 April in Brussels.

The observatory will act as “a forum for exchanging ideas, expertise and best practices in the fight against fake goods between member states and key representatives from the private sector,” said a Commission release. “The observatory aims to become the recognised source of knowledge and a central resource for enforcers in the EU.”

The Commission was “invited” to establish an observatory by the European Council of member state representatives last September, it said.

The 2 April event agenda includes a roster of European Commission and Parliament officials and developed-nation industry representatives, spanning the software, recording, pharmaceutical, trademark, movie, fashion goods, construction equipment and online auction industries. Many of the industry representatives are from the United States.

The European Commission recently has found itself defending overly aggressive actions by Dutch authorities stopping legitimate shipments of generic pharmaceuticals passing through on their way to poor countries. Consumer groups, developing countries and others also have raised concern about the rise of enforcement issues in a range of multilateral fora, especially those based in Europe.

Separately, also this week the European Commission will reduce the fees charged by the EU agency responsible for granting EU-wide trademark rights, OHIM (Office for the Harmonization in the Internal Market, located in Alicante, Spain), it said in a release, adding that the reduction will make access to trademark protection about 40 percent cheaper for businesses operating in the EU single market. An EU trademark currently costs between €1,600-€1,750, it said, but the new reduction would combine the separate application and registration fees into one fee costing between €900 and €1,050.