BNS

July 13, 2001: 15:51

Intellectual Property Unprotected in the Baltic States

From a study carried out by the Coalition for Intellectual Property Rights (CIPR) among entrepreneurs in all three Baltic States, it appears that there is a lack of capability to enforce the fairly good laws protecting intellectual property rights. According to the CIPR study, Baltic enterprises regard the question of intellectual property rights as a serious challenge. The only thing that upsets heads of business firms more than unprotected intellectual property rights is, according to the CIPR survey, the bureaucracy of government agencies.

The heads of 102 enterprises in the three Baltic states who responded to the CIPR survey were also irritated by state corruption, inadequate investment laws, and the difficulties involved in dealing with the courts. In the sphere of intellectual property rights, these leading executives found the most important issue to be the protection of trademarks. Firms are also concerned, although slightly less so, about product counterfeiting, patent protection, and copyright issues.

Another source of worry is the piracy of internet domain names. Of the three Baltic States, Estonian senior executives mentioned this problem more often than did their Latvian and Lithuanian counterparts. With regard to intellectual property rights protection, the entrepreneurs gave their patent offices the highest marks for their efforts, while they found the most wanting to be the agencies directly involved with disciplining offenders. But Estonian top executives differed in one major way from their Latvian and Lithuanian counterparts - Estonian entrepreneurs had a good opinion of the work done by their Ministries of Culture and Justice, and viewed the results achieved by the courts in a comparatively positive light.

All those surveyed believe that although the laws for protecting intellectual property rights meet existing requirements and are quite good, various agencies - among them customs and the police - do not regard the actual enforcing of the laws to be of primary importance, partially due to the lack of resources and opportunities. These top executives believe that to better protect intellectual property rights, officials and politicians should be motivated by the argument that if these rights are not protected, various taxes will be left unpaid to the state treasury.

Entrepreneurs also cited their nations' international reputations, profits lost by their firms, and the dangers to consumer health and welfare from counterfeit and substandard products. The Baltic entrepreneurs see solutions in the development of a stronger political will; in fighting corruption; in better training for the customs service, police, and other law enforcement agencies; in improved public communication; and in increasing the firms' own willingness to systematically approach the problem. Over the course of the study, conducted from the end of last year to the first quarter of this year, top management representatives from 49 Latvian, 29 Lithuanian, and 24 Estonian enterprises were surveyed. The results of the study will be released in Riga on Friday by the non-governmental organization CIPR, which is active in the Baltic States and other former countries of the USSR.