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The Daily Star - Business Articles - Lebanon still fails to properly enforce Intellectual Property Rights law Lebanon still fails to properly enforce Intellectual Property Rights law
Beirut seminar discusses challenges of IPR enforcement
BEIRUT: Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) adviser at the Economy and Trade Ministry Wissam al-Amil blamed the government on Tuesday for its carelessness in enforcing the laws pertaining to IPR in Lebanon, saying that more efforts are needed in this aspect. "Lebanon is one of the first countries in the region to have intellectual property rights laws but the main obstacle is that these laws are not being properly enforced by the government, in addition to a lack of appropriate decisions by the judicial authorities when a violation takes place," Amil told The Daily Star.
When a clear violation of the laws take place, the judicial authorities should not hesitate in coming up with effective decisions against the violator to be able to draw the limits when it comes to IPR, he said. "It is not logic to impose a penalty of only 1 million Lebanese pounds on a shop owner who has been caught having 3,000 illegal copies of CDs and DVDs," he added. "This way, we will never be able to progress."
The IPR law is very clear on these issues and the punishments imposed by this law in case of violations include the confiscation of the illegal products and closure of the shops in questions, he said.
His remarks came during the opening of a seminar titled "Border enforcement and intellectual property rights" held at the premises of the Institute of Finance in Beirut - Basil Fuleihan Institute. The aim of the two-day workshop is to discuss the challenges of IPR enforcement globally and mainly in Lebanon.
The Lebanese government issued in 2000 the custom law which prohibits the exportation, importation and stocking of counterfeit works or any other goods considered as an infringement of copyright. However, the situation on the ground shows it is difficult to practically implement such protective measures, since counterfeiters introduce pirated products, including counterfeit movies, music CDs and computer programs to the Lebanese market through illegal land or sea crossings that are not covered by customs officers' or local authorities.
Sectors dependant on intellectual innovations are very crucial to the Lebanese economy, said Finance Minister Mohamad Shatah. "Lebanon is on the top of Arab countries when it comes to intellectual innovations and arts, and these sectors can contribute a lot more to our economy than the core industries such as agriculture and manufacturing," he said.
According to a report issued by the Institute of Finance, the copyright industries in Lebanon contribute 4.74 percent to GDP and 4.54 percent to employment. However, the report said, the core industries contribute 2.53 percent to GDP and 2.11 percent to employment.
The study mentioned as well that the core copyright industries generated $555.52 million of value added which is generated from nine sectors including press and literature, music, theatrical productions, opera, motion pictures and video, radio and television, photography, software and databases, visual and graphic arts, advertising and copyright collecting societies.
Shatah said the government has a great role to play in enforcing the intellectual property rights by creating awareness among the Lebanese people on the importance of such measures. "It is not sufficient to enforce the law but people should be informed about the importance of this issue since their early education, and here comes the role of the Education ministry," he said.
"What I saw in many other countries in the world is that people usually look at those who violate IPR laws with a great disrespect because they consider these violations as being equivalent to stealing," he added.
Respecting intellectual property rights is one of the basic conditions of joining the World Trade Organization. Lebanon is a signatory to several international agreements relating to intellectual property rights and started the process for accession to the World Trade Organization in 1999, but could not join until today because of its failure to properly implement the basic required conditions.
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When will they ever Learn?......
Lebanon is Still Lebanon and shall always continue to be!
i mean... even if they start shutting down Shops... people will always find a way to get back up!
Lebanon still fails to properly enforce Intellectual Property Rights law -
17th June 2009
17th June 2009
