An exclusive partner – Pakharenko and Partners IP and Law Firm – took part in conducting an exclusive event: a two-day marathon dedicated to the issues of fighting counterfeit and pirated goods has successfully come to an end. At the initiative of the Ukraine Alliance Against Counterfeiting and Piracy (UAACP) and with the support of the the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine and the Yuridicheskaya Praktika (Legal Practice Journal) on 19-20 April 2017 the hotel complex Ramada Encore Kyiv became the platform for communication of IP experts, producers of various goods and ordinary consumers. The actual problems were highlighted, numerous topical issues were raised and a lot of effective advice and reasonable proposals were put forward, and in the outcome it was decided to join forces in order to effectively overcome the “evil” of counterfeiting and piracy.

The photo gallery of the 2nd International Forum on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy “Counterfeiting and Piracy as threats to national security and economy” may be viewed here: http://uaacp.org/2012/02/23/fotogalereya-19-20-04-2017/

During two days the event has been attended by around 300 people including representatives of state authorities (including some of the country’s top officials), national and foreign manufacturers of quality products, managers of some of the world’s largest brand owning companies, leading Ukrainian and international experts in the field of IPR protection.

The international speakers representing World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), ICC BASCAP (Business action to stop counterfeiting and piracy), European Police Office (Europol), Global Anti-Counterfeiting Group (GACG Network), US National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center), the Spanish Association for the Defense of Trademarks (ANDEMA), Asian Coalition Against Counterfeiting And Piracy (ACACAP), International Seed Federation (ISF), International Community of Breeders of Asexually Reproduced Ornamental and Fruit Varieties (CIOPORA), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Ukraine Alliance Against Counterfeiting and Piracy (UAACP) and other international and national organizations presented the ways of solving the problem of counterfeiting and piracy developed by the international community.

Among the participants of the event there were the representatives of National Security and Defense Council, Ministry of Justice, State Fiscal Service, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, National Police, State Service on Food Safety and Consumers Protection and the courts. The business community was also very active. The forum was attended by the representatives of national and foreign right holders, law firms, by patent attorneys, scholars and other interested persons.

The Forum aimed at advancement of the Ukraine’s strategy and tactics of solving one of the most acute problems in the modern world which is combating counterfeiting and piracy, implementation of IP protection reform, developing the system of anti-counterfeiting measures, shaping the civilized legal market for Ukrainian products and contributing to the country’s favorable investment climate.

The event was opened with a welcome address of Antonina Pakharenko-Anderson, the president of UAACP, ICC Ukraine Vice-Chairman on IP issues, Coordinator of ICC-BASCAP initiative in Ukraine, Andy Hunder, the president of American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, and Rustam Kolesnik, editor-in-chief of Yuridicheskaya Praktika (Legal Practice Journal).  Particularly, Antonina Pakharenko-Anderson called the participants to remember about the close ties between the effectiveness of IPR protection and a country’s economic performance since ensuring strong IPR protection regime will help unlock the country’s economic potential and increase its investment attractiveness by demonstrating to the right holders and producers that Ukraine is serious about this issue and will make every effort to make business feel secure. Following up this idea, Andy Hunder reminded that the American Chamber of Commerce is “getting the voice of business across to government”, and Rustam Kolesnik joined the welcome address expressing his hope that all stakeholders will be able to hear each other.

The Round Table One titled “Threats of counterfeiting and piracy” was moderated by Veronika Berezanska, the Head of the Commission of Intellectual Property and Unfair Competition of ICC Ukraine, Public Projects Coordinator of UAACP. She expressed her strong belief that the fight against counterfeiting and piracy will be most effective when the following three main components will be put in place: joining the efforts of the government and a private sector;  raising public  awareness about the role of intellectual property and economic and social consequences of consuming counterfeit and pirated goods; involving investments for economic development. Bogdan Paduchak, a Deputy Head of the Department for Innovation and Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, expressed his hope that legislative initiatives of MEDT will be approved soon, because “The government is doing everything possible to bring the IT sector to a new level”. The court reform was highlighted by Bogdan Lvov, a Chairman of the Supreme Commercial Court of Ukraine, and Igor Starodubov, Director of the Department of Forensic Examinations and Expert Research in the field of Intellectual Property of the SE “Judicial Informational Systems” of the State Court Administration provided the insights on the role of forensic examination after the reform of the procedural legislation. Presentation about the border measures against threats posed by counterfeiting and piracy was delivered by Oleksii Gashchytskyi, the representative of the Department of Customs Control under the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, and, as usual, it contained keen examples and witty accents. At the same time, the representative of the US National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, Federal Bureau of Investigations Supervisory Special Agent, Jason Levitt, has presented the impressive statistics: in the U.S. 1 in 12 retail dollars was spent online, and international trade in counterfeit and pirated products represented 2.5% of the world trade. The “online” theme was followed up by Nadiia Vasylieva, Microsoft Ukraine General Manage, who focused the participants’ attention on the need to protect information and called to start thinking as the Europeans that means showing respect to intellectual property rights. According to Denys Krokhmalyov, Regional Brand Protection Manager (CEE&CAR) of Procter & Gamble, during the recent three years the company forced 817 factories to stop producing counterfeits, where the total value of seized products bearing P&G logos amounted to USD 325 million. The importance of carrying out educational work among the public was highlighted by the Director General of the Spanish National Association for the Defense of Trademarks (ANDEMA), Jose Antonio Moreno. Serhiy Cherniavsky, vice-rector of the National Academy of Internal Affairs, kept up with the Spanish expert adding that one of the components of effective IPR protection should be training of highly qualified professionals. The Round Table One was concluded by presentation of Andrew Bradshaw, President of Asian Coalition Against Counterfeiting And Piracy (ACACAP) who not only told the audience about the effective brand protection strategies used in Asian countries but also called the law enforcement, customs authorities and right holders to maintain more effective communication with each other. The topics of supply chain control and introducing responsibility of intermediaries, as well as the anti-counterfeiting activities at the customs border of Ukraine were introduced by Alexander Pakharenko, Partner with Pakharenko and Partners IP and Law Firm, Attorney-at-Law, registered Patent Attorney, Director of UAACP, the moderator of the Round Table Two named “Practical aspects of fighting counterfeiting and piracy” held within the 2nd International Forum on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy “Counterfeiting and Piracy as threats to national security and economy”.

The moderator’s introduction was followed up by the Chairman of the Global Anti-Counterfeiting Group (GACG Network), John Anderson, who focused on main supply chain elements. He noted that intermediaries are playing an essential role in supply chain and have a responsibility to restrict abuse of their infrastructures to prevent counterfeiting and piracy. The expert emphasized that a better co-ordination between rights holders, government agencies and intermediaries is required, higher standards and better prevention and deterrence measures should be adopted and rights holder must actively engage at all levels of the supply chain.

Olena Biloshuk, Attorney-at-Law, Head of Legal Department of Gorodissky and Partners patent and law firm have provided a detailed overview of the customs register of IP objects, in particular the procedure for registration of IP objects in the customs register and spoke about suspension of private postal consignments.

The presentation titled “Enforcement of the legislative innovations of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine in IP infringement cases” was delivered by Evgeniy Kompanets, deputy head of Legal Department at Pakharenko and Partners IP and Law Firm. The lawyer reminded the audience that the changes introduced in the Criminal Code of Ukraine in 2011 have mitigated the sanctions despite the increase in the amount of fines. According to the speaker, one of the best results achieved in fighting fakes is their destruction during pre-trial investigation with participation or under control of a right holder or his representative.

The existing ways of effective and balanced investigations in the IP crimes in the interests of right holders and a broader public were highlighted by Sergiy Lebid, the General Director of Intellect Group Ukraine. He named the most popular forms of the IPR infringements and gave the overview of the criminal aspect of IPR protection, having provided the relevant examples in order to illustrate the legislative norms.

Mykola Faengold, director on partner cooperation of StarLightMedia media group (Clear Sky initiative) provided his insights on the protection of audio-visual content in the Internet and outlined the priorities of B2B sector for the year 2017 which are as follows: persuading advertisers to place advertising only on websites with legal content and encouraging the right holders to trace and publish information about those who steal content, thus promoting legal websites and fighting online piracy in general.

The excitement among the audience occurred when the lawyers of Pakharenko and Partners IP and Law Firm – Alexander Pakharenko, Partner and Taras Tsikaluk, Attorney-at-Law, Senior lawyer – carried out presentation of PUMA product features helping to identify counterfeit products and practical training. Having viewed the slides showing how to identify genuine Puma goods from the fake ones, the most active participants of the Forum tried to find original Puma products among the various samples displayed by the presenters, and to explain their choice. A girl who managed to identify the original product received a valuable gift from the exclusive partner of the Forum – Pakharenko and Partners IP and Law Firm.

The first day of the ІІ International Forum on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy “Counterfeiting and Piracy as threats to national security and economy” concluded with the round table titled “Security of the future: pharmaceuticals”, moderated by the representative of the State Intellectual Property Service of Ukraine, Ms. Inna Shatova. She pointed out that production and sale of counterfeits are equated with the crimes against humanity, since the use of counterfeit medicines not only brings no desired result, but may also pose threat to consumers’ health and safety.

This was a really interesting international discussion. The issue of illegal sale of medicines through online pharmacies was covered by Dmitriy Polyakov, Director of a Russian company “Protekta”. According to Mr. Polyakov, most fake drugs are produced in China, India and Pakistan. Julien RONDARD, Anti-Counterfeiting project Manager of Servier, provided the insights on the fight against falsification by a pharmaceutical company Servier, and the final presentation was made by Roman Boiko, Security Head in Sanofi Aventis, who spoke about Internet trade with medicines in Ukraine and “grey” import of medicines as a solid tandem against health.

The Day Two of the 2nd International Forum on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy “Counterfeiting and Piracy as threats to national security and economy” started with the round table “Security of the future: crops protection means and plant varieties (seeds and plants)” moderated by Inna Shatova. Experienced seed and plants market experts focused on the idea that illegal seed practices pose an extreme threat for the seed sector requiring effective protection and adequate enforcement and tried to develop a comprehensive approach to combating smuggling and trafficking in counterfeit pesticides. These issues were discussed in details by Michael Keller, Secretary General of International Seed Federation (ISF) and Larysa Petriv, project expert, EU/FAO (UN). A report of Larysa Petriv mainly concerned the market of pesticides, where a proportion of counterfeits is around 25%, which is equivalent to $15 billion. The expert repeatedly highlighted that fake and counterfeit pesticides are extremely harmful for food industry and their usage is extremely dangerous subject to climate change.

Siuzana Hryhorenko, Executive director of the Seed Association of Ukraine, puzzled out what is the situation in the Ukrainian seed market, in particular whether it is filled with fakes or counterfeits. She cited statutory definitions, compared them with each other and described the most popular types of counterfeits in Ukraine: completely unoriginal products; products bearing trademarks of other entities; hybrids/varieties seeds that do not meet the varietal indicators; mixing of low-quality seeds with original hybrid, etc. Everyone should remember that the suppliers of counterfeits are not standing still, they constantly “improve” their products by successfully masking them as the newest developments of legal manufacturers.

Natalia Litostanska, Project Lead in DuPont Pioneer Ukraine, presented the Brand protection program for Pioneer TM. She described in details and demonstrated how to identify original product of DuPont Pioneer and encouraged the farmers “to keep the examples of acquired products and relevant supporting documentation (receipt, contract, invoices, business cards, etc.), as well as to buy products only from official vendors of seed materials”.

Anna Melnyk, Senior Attorney Row Crops EME in Monsanto, tried to explain the importance of intellectual property rights protection in relation to the innovations. She noted that manufacturing companies invest heavily not only in selection, but also in the protection of their products from counterfeiting and demonstrated the examples of successful combating faked seeds.

The fifth round table “Internet sales of counterfeits: business or fraud” of the 2nd International Forum on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy “Counterfeiting and Piracy as threats to national security and economy” was moderated by Oleksandr Padalka, Partner at Sayenko Kharenko law firm.

Olena Skazko, Attorney-at-Law, patent attorney, Internet-Invest, LLC, briefed on bringing online counterfeiters to responsibility and procedural way to identify a proper defendant through hosting provider and/or registrar. In particular, she provided examples of types and structures of domain names, informed the participants of the round table how to distinguish a registrar from a registrant, and mentioned the main sources of legal regulation of this sphere.

Andriy Bichuk, Lawyer at OLX.ua, outlined the coordination of right holders and operators of online trade platforms in the fight against counterfeiting providing the examples from the European practice of fighting against infringers. Oleg Zhukhevych, Attorney-at-Law, patent attorney, Deputy Director of Gorodissky and Partners law firm, shared his own experience in combating fraudulent online shops. He identified the main factors of the growth of the Internet trade in counterfeit goods, including high growth rate, increased income level, ability to hide reliable information on the seller. He also shared main components of the intellectual property protection strategy on the Internet, which, in particular, includes introduction of computer systems to detect infringements, identification of sources and supply routes of counterfeits, application of pre-trial dispute settlement procedures, use of alternative methods of domain disputes resolution, registration of intellectual property objects in customs registers, commencement of criminal and administrative proceedings and at finally the court settlement.

Bogdan Ciinaru, expert at Europol-IPC3, informed on the investigations conducted by the Intellectual Property Crimes Coordinated Coalition on e-commerce platforms and illustrated his speech with funny, yet horrific videos, while Wolfgang Preuss, IPR & Brand Protection Support specialist, Legal Counsel PPP EMEA, Atas & Partner, Berlin, presented the issue of the logistics of fakes industry in the context of Internet-based & local IP infringements.

The last, sixth round table titled “Responsible consumer” within the 2nd International Forum on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy “Counterfeiting and Piracy as threats to national security and economy” was moderated by Veronika Berezanska, Head of the Commission of Intellectual Property and Unfair Competition of ICC Ukraine, Public Projects Coordinator in UAACP. She presented to the participants a permanent UAACP awareness-raising campaign “Anti-Counterfeiting and Anti-Piracy Days in Ukraine” which started in spring 2012 under the slogan “I Buy Real! I Don’t Buy Fakes!” The campaign was launched by UAACP in cooperation with the State Intellectual Property Service of Ukraine, State Customs Service of Ukraine, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and Ukrainian National Committee of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC Ukraine), thus joining International awareness-raising campaign “World Anti-Counterfeiting Day” initiated by the Global Anti-Counterfeiting Network (GACG Network) in 1998. Numerous events, which take place in Ukraine, across Europe and in the USA, emphasize the international aspects of intellectual property rights infringements and highlight the growing need of the international community in the enhanced joint fight against counterfeiting. Special attention is always paid to those counterfeits, which threaten the health and safety of people. Within the campaign, regular events are held for the governmental agencies and businesses, students, schoolchildren and journalists.

“The goal of our awareness-raising events is very clear and understandable — through such activities UAACP is trying to promote the establishment of a rational consumption model and increase the level of awareness among Ukrainians about the risks and consequences of buying counterfeit goods, which were repeatedly mentioned by the previous speakers,” Veronika Berezanska said.

It is should also be mentioned, that the activity of the UAACP did not remain unnoticed by the international organizations. On the 8th of June, 2016 in the framework of celebration of the World Anti-Counterfeiting Day held in Paris the UAACP received the award in the category “Associations” for the provision of significant support in fighting against counterfeits in Ukraine and abroad, organization of large-scale awareness-raising events, activity focused on coordination between public and private sectors and the increase of public awareness level.

Ganna Prokhorova, an authorized representative of INTA Anti-Counterfeiting Committee, presented an awareness-raising campaign “Unreal Campaign” initiated by INTA aiming to increase consumers’ awareness through explain students the importance of the trademarks and the dangers posed by counterfeit products. The campaign was launched in 2012 during INTA annual conference in Washington.

Ganna Prokhorova also provided some statistical data: in particular, since 2012 more than 50 events were held within the “Unreal Campaign” in educational establishments with the direct participation of more than 8 thousand students and teenagers; at the same time more than 120 thousand of participants were involved on-line, thus covering more than 25 countries. Today, the “Unreal Campaign” interacts with students aged 14 to 18 years via social networks, youth sites, video blogs and collaborating with bloggers without leaving a work focused on organization of events with direct involvement of students in local schools.

Oleksandr Shevchenko, Program Officer in the Department for Transition and Developed Countries, WIPO, updated the participants of the round table on the World Intellectual Property Organization’s recent developments regarding building respect for IP. He stated that manufacturing companies, right holders and average consumers are affected by the production, sales and purchase of counterfeits: to the first ones the counterfeits mean financial loses while to the others they pose a threat (often to their life and health). Given the fact that our world is rapidly changing, the current stage of building respect for intellectual property shall involve the active use of various innovative developments, however, noone should ignore fostering culture and responsibility, – WIPO expert said.

According to Iryna Miroshnyk, President of Immer Group Ukrplastic, the President of the Ukrainian Association of Flexible Packaging, the packaging could help protect consumers from counterfeit goods. Of course, it should be not just a box, but rather the packaging equipped with at least QR-code, special protective paints or DOT-, RFID-codes or DIGITAL-print. According to the expert, the so-called TRACK&TRACE (a unique product code and number with information about the origin and location of the good) has the highest level of protection from counterfeits.

The next speaker was Oleg Tsilvik, Deputy Head of NGO “Consumers Union of Ukraine” who knew everything about cement fraud and who studied the packaged cement consumer market. According to his data, the main ways of deceiving consumers in these products category are adulteration of cement brands (when a low-quality cement is packed under the brand of a higher quality cement), falsification of the content of the bag by adding an inert filler to the commercial cement, counterfeiting and cheating in weighting. “The way-out of the situation that occurred for cement manufacturers may only be a systematic work with consumers and retail networks in the context of spreading information about products and protective elements, – Oleg Tsvilik summarized. – It is necessary to teach consumers how to properly choose cement and find counterfeiting features. We should not ignore a possibility to promote consumption products of official manufacturers as the consumers “vote by a wallet”, and if they are persuaded that buying a low-quality product is an economic failure, they will be interested in buying a cement produced by official manufacturer”. The speaker also believes that conducting awareness-raising events, publication of independent consumer examinations results and extensive coverage of these issues by the media and on local retail facilities will promote awareness raising and consumer culture as well as significantly strengthen the effectiveness of fighting against counterfeits.

After the presentations within each round table the participants had an opportunity to address speakers, discuss current topics and get answers to urgent questions.

Concluding the two-days forum, Antonina Pakharenko-Anderson pointed out that fighting against counterfeiting and piracy is our common problem. “Public awareness about intellectual property rights and especially of the role of intellectual property in the state economic development requires constant and continuous work of representatives from different fields of knowledge and activity areas. Therefore, the fight against counterfeiting and piracy should take it appropriate place in a state policy in general, and in our daily life in particular”, – she said. Antonina called all speakers, participants and interested persons to send their proposals regarding the fight against counterfeit goods to the UAACP e-mail (mail@uaacp.org). These proposals will be processed and incorporated into the resolution that will be further sent to all public authorities of Ukraine and released to the public.

During two days of the forum, a regular UAACP social event “I Buy Real! I Don’t Buy Fakes!” was held. The event participants were invited to get acquainted with UAACP mobile Museum of Counterfeits and its samples of counterfeit and pirated products. Various companies’ top managers, lawyers as well as experienced intellectual property experts and well-know “fighters” against counterfeiting and piracy viewed the exhibition with a great interest. For some participants the Museum’s exhibits were usual products faced almost everyday, but others surprisingly realized that they had “fell into the clutches” of counterfeiters for many times believing that they were buying original products. The bravest “visitors” of the Museum took the samples to their hands, carefully studying them and trying to find the features of counterfeits by themselves, which is often very difficult event for a skilled professional.

The Ukraine Alliance Against Counterfeiting and Piracy, as an organizer of the 2nd International Forum on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy “Counterfeiting and Piracy as threats to national security and economy”, would like to thank the co-organizers – the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine and Yuridicheskaya Practika (Legal Practice Journal), as well as to all who contributed to the event being held on a high level, in particular: the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, European Communities Trade Mark Association (ЕСТА), Ukrainian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC Ukraine), Scientific and Research Intellectual Property Institute of Legal Sciences Academy of Ukraine, Global Anti-Counterfeiting Group (GACG Network), Institute of Intellectual Property of the Kyiv Center of the National University “Odesa Academy of Law”, National Internal Affairs Academy. The partner support was provided by professional partner – ICC Business action to stop counterfeiting and piracy (BASCAP); general partner Gorodissky and Partners patent and law firm; exclusive partner Pakharenko and Partners IP and Law Firm and official partners Sayenko Kharenko law firm and No Fake Security. The exhibitor of the event was Risk Intelligence Group. Informational support was provided by the international project “Technologies and Innovations”, “Interfax-Ukraine” news agency, “Ukrainian Lawyer” magazine, “Judicial Gazette – Legal Practice” newspaper, “Yurydychna gazeta”, “Ukrainian Attorney-at-Law” magazine, “The Ukrainian Journal of Business Law” magazine, the Association of Informational Technologies Enterprises of Ukraine and Seed Association of Ukraine.

For more information please visit the UAACP website at http://uaacp.org/en/