Mumbai, India – Intellectual Property (IP) stakeholders from around the world are meeting today in Mumbai at a two-day conference on transnational counterfeiting and piracy which will see the formal launch of INTERPOL’s Database on International Intellectual Property (DIIP) Crime.
The database will be a unique central point for private industry worldwide to provide information on IP crime. One of its key functions will be to maintain reliable data on the scale of counterfeiting and piracy to determine more clearly the nature of crimes against brand and copyright integrity. INTERPOL’s specialist units at its headquarters in Lyon, France, will analyze data to seek possible links between IP crimes across different industry sectors, facilitate criminal investigations and develop strategic IP crime reports.
The 2nd Annual Global Forum on Innovation, Creativity and Intellectual Property - hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC), the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) - comes amid increased cooperation between the business and law enforcement communities, highlighted in Dubai recently at the Fourth Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy.
“The sharing of information from the private sector will help law enforcement agencies in our 186 member countries to focus their resources more effectively in investigating individuals and groups linked to transnational counterfeiting and piracy,” said INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble. “As a result of this cooperation, INTERPOL is making organized criminals aware that international borders no longer protect them from the long arm of the law.”
The new database – operating together with the INTERPOL Recommended Minimum Global Standard for the Collection of Information on Counterfeiting and Piracy by the Private Sector – is the result of a 2006 partnership between INTERPOL and USCC, the world’s largest national business federation.
“This historic partnership is allowing law enforcement, government, and industry to work together to more effectively detect and investigate the criminal networks engaged in these crimes,” said David Chavern, USCC’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. “We expect to see major law enforcement actions as a result of this work in the very near future.”
Counterfeit products not only damage business or economic development worldwide, they also have severe implications for the health and safety of consumers. The World Health Organization has estimated that fake drugs account for 10 per cent of all pharmaceuticals, with this figure rising as high as 60 per cent in developing countries.