Anti-Counterfeiting Roundtable

Rights holders, customs and law enforcement officials engaged in a lively roundtable discussion in Moscow on “Practical Anti-Counterfeiting Strategies:  Working Effectively with Russian Customs and Law Enforcement Authorities,” to highlight best practices to combat product counterfeiting and piracy at the border and in the marketplace.  INTA and CIPR were the co-sponsors of the September 30, 2008 event, which was hosted by Salans law firm. 

CIPR’s Alexander Turkin opened the roundtable with an overview of product counterfeiting and piracy in Russia, and its negative impact on the country’s health and safety, state budget and economic and investment climate. 

Natalia Gulyaeva and Pavel Arievich of Lovells CIS moderated the first panel that examined steps rights holders can take to protect their trademarks and other IP by cooperating with Russian Customs, such as trademark recordation, providing product updates and intelligence on counterfeiters and pirates.  Angel Escoriaza of Nokia Corporation presented a case study on how Nokia and Russian Militia and Customs collaborated to stop a shipment of counterfeit cell phones from entering the Russian marketplace, and discussed lessons learned and best practices.  Russian customs official, Natalia Teplyakova, provided updates on customs regulations, recommendations on how rights holders can work effectively with customs, and addressed questions from the audience and other panelists.  

In the second panel the discussion shifted to combating counterfeits and pirated goods in the retail marketplace and sold over the Internet.  The panel was co-moderated by Denis Voevodin of Salans law firm and Marina Grineva of Euromarkpat law firm, with the law enforcement input of Evgeniy Sargin, Economic Security Department, RF Ministry of Internal Affairs.  The panel discussion included an overview of legal strategies, marketplace investigations and Internet monitoring to identify potential sources of fake goods, as well as to provide advise on specific issues facing rights holders in attendance. 

CIPR thanks Salans for its hospitality, the panelists for stimulating a robust discussion and to INTA for being a great partner to make this event a success.