ITU Gets Involved In IP Protection

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has announced a workshop in Ukraine next year aimed at fighting counterfeit technology products, representing a notable foray into intellectual property rights protection by the UN agency.

“This workshop will investigate the scope, dimension of counterfeit ICT issue [sic], share experience of current best practices, discuss whether a possible framework could be derived from the common approach and focus on how ITU as well as other International organizations could assist developing countries to combat counterfeit ICT products,” the event website says.

The registration website for the event is here. The meeting will take place in Kiev on 28-29 April. There is no agenda available yet.

The invitation document for the event is here.

The invitation says that ITU is studying counterfeit issues under an action plan that appears to be a protected document.

“ITU-T SG11 is studying counterfeit issues in ITU-T and it encourages exchange of information, experience and opinions about this topic according to the SG11 Action plan, it says. (ITU-T refers to the Telecommunications division of the organisation).

The workshop seeks to build on efforts by some countries to fight counterfeit mobile devices, it says.

The workshop invitation was first made public by Jeremy Malcolm of Consumers International.