Today was the 2nd day of the 2nd Annual Global Forum on Innovation, Creativity and Intellectual Property organised by CII in conjunction with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, GOI and the US India Business Council (Mumbai).
The day began with a discussion on “Global trends in IP Protection” where Narendra K. Sabharwal, Deputy Director General, World Intellectual Property Organisation spoke of the following –
shift in focus of IP community from protection of IP to promotion and exploitation of IP for growth and development; increasing internationalisation of IP system; growing reach of digital technology posing another challenge to IP protection and business orientation, where IP has become core competency of many enterprises.
The second session was titled “International Law Enforcement: Working with Brand Owners to Protect IP.”
Mr Daniel Baldwin, Assistant Commissioner, Office of International Trade, U S Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland security mentioned that reliance should be on following partnerships to enhance enforcement levels: customs to trade, customs to other governmental agencies and customs to customs.
In this regard Mr. Balaji Majumdar, Joint Commissioner of Customs provided a governmental perspective while speaking of the evolution of methods of tackling counterfeiting by customs.
Projecting the enormity of the issue, Manish Yadav, General Counsel, South East Asia, Johnson & Johnson Company said “counterfeiting problem has grown to $ 600 bn in 2006 from $5.5 bn in 1982”. He further mentioned the key strategies to combat counterfeiting as making it more difficult to counterfeit, reduce the opportunity to divert, gain proper oversight of external manufacturers, train employees and engage customers.
Harping on the necessity of coordination and cooperation, nationally and internationally the panellists agreed to attack the issue of counterfeiting, piracy and infringement of intellectual property rights heads on.
