BACKGROUND, OBJECTIVES & METHODOLOGY

This Final Report summarizes major findings from a confidential, self-administered opinion survey on intellectual property rights issues conducted among 102 selected international and domestic companies doing business in the Baltic States during the first quarter of 2001(1 & 2). Many of the respondents are owners of well-known trademarks and other popular consumer brands.

The brandholders and trademark owners whose opinions are highlighted in this Final Report are well known to consumers in each of the Baltic countries. These include a broad range of food, beverage, pharmaceutical, personal hygiene, energy, tobacco, information technology, video, music and office equipment products, among others.

The primary objective of this survey is to determine the opinions and practices of international and regional companies on key intellectual property protection issues in the Baltic States. The survey explores various private sector practices and opinions on actions to improve the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights. These include issues such as anti-counterfeiting measures, public education, legal and judicial reform, building public-private coalitions and, improving technical and other resources of relevant regional government agencies. While opinions and practices related to copyright piracy (e.g., music, books, films, video, software, etc.) were addressed, the primary focus of this survey and its Final Report is on owners of and issues affecting industrial intellectual property - namely brands, trademarks and patents.

The survey was conducted on behalf of the Coalition for Intellectual Property Rights (CIPR). The survey was designed, implemented and analyzed by three professional research firms: MAGRAM Market Research, an experienced consumer opinion research company which operates throughout the region and is headquartered in Moscow; GLS Research, an international opinion research firm with headquarters in San Francisco; and, The PBN Company, an international strategic communications firm with offices in Riga, Moscow, Kyiv, Chisinau, Almaty, Washington, D.C. and London.

All survey respondents are members of one or more of the following regional business associations; Coalition for Intellectual Property Rights (CIPR), American Chambers of Commerce in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania; British-Latvian Chamber of Commerce, British-Lithuania Chamber of Commerce, Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, CIPR, among others. All respondents were guaranteed confidentiality of their individual responses and were informed that results would be reported only on an aggregate basis.

1. This survey is not a statistically representative sample of companies doing business in the Baltic States, nor is it a statistically representative sample of the opinions of members of CIPR or of any other business organizations. However, the survey sponsors believe this Final Report of major findings is an objective statement of attitudes and concerns about intellectual property rights held by business executives in the Baltic States.
2. A small percentage of surveys included in the study were completed in December 2000.