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SADER in a Report on Now Lebanon Website

Failing to Protect the Intellectual Property will have Dire Repercussions.

In a report written by Mr. Mansour Bou Dagher on Now Lebanon website entitled "The Intellectual Property ...Under the Piracy's Mercy", the Managing Partner of SADER & ASSOCIATES specialized in Intellectual Property , Attorney Rany SADER, asserted that "certain aspects of the Intellectual Property may be harmful to humans. For instance, the imitation of drugs (by mixing them with lime), foods (by adding ink and sawdust), cosmetics and car parts especially brakes, are actions with very harmful effect on human beings. We have heard and verified the scandal regarding the cancer drug (a mere serum containing water instead of drug) that was recently purchased by the Ministry of Health and used in the "treatment" of a child in the Children Cancer Center, leading to his death. Moreover, drugs for sexual stimulation are being imitated, causing generally heart attacks as a result of the negative reaction leading to death. What about the news we often hear about car accidents, when the brakes of a trail driven by a conscious person and in broad daylight get broken and cause a disaster? Some may think that such accident was caused by a technical failure. However, and upon the examination of the matter, it appears that the used brakes are not genuine, and are broken on a certain temperature, in comparison with the genuine parts that show signs before their expiry".

In a step showing the importance of the treatment of this fact, SADER pinpoints that the Ministerial Statement of the current Lebanese Government broached for the first time the protection of the Intellectual Property. The Government's economic policy general principles stressed in paragraph six "the necessity to re-integrate Lebanon in both Arab and International economies..., expedite the adherence of Lebanon to World Trade Organization, and implement the laws related to the protection of the International Property and control piracy".

In paragraph "d" of the main economic, financial and social themes in the economic, financial and social governmental program, the statement stipulated the following:

"...Furthermore, the Government will support the productive sectors in the process of economic transformation towards the economy of the 21st Century, based on the economy knowledge. On the other hand, the Government will focus on the sectors of the "New Economy" which will achieve high rates of development and new workforce, leading to the dependence on the intellectual production as a source of income and national wealth".

According to SADER, Lebanon is on the verge of adhering to the World Trade Organization comprising the Trade Related Aspects to the Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS). We are obliged, as per the said agreement, to improve and progress our laws related to the Intellectual Property. SADER also asserts that the Intellectual Property is not a new issue in Lebanon, since the laws governing the Intellectual Property are very ancient in Lebanon and go back to 1924. Therefore, Lebanon is deemed among the first Arab countries to enact a law on the regulation and protection of the International Property. In 1999, the enacted law on the protection of Copyrights caused a controversy regarding the provision of Article 25 which allows the copying of works in specific cases and without the permission of the author. Nowadays, the Ministry of Economy is conducting a total review of the law; it also referred the amendments draft to the Government which referred it in its turn to the Parliament. In year 2000, the law on patents was enacted, and the Ministry referred an amendment draft for this law. On the other hand, we are enjoined to enact three other laws by virtue of the TRIPS Agreement, namely the new laws on Trademarks, geographical indications and the prevention of monopoly. These laws are currently waiting to be examined by the Parliament as soon as it regains its legislative activity. Meanwhile, the old laws or the public law and principles are implemented.

SADER sees regarding the ways of assault of the Intellectual Property, that the local imitation of the international products is still relatively shy in Lebanon. However, the printing sector is strongly evolved and may have some impact on the trade of imitated goods in Lebanon through printing books without the permission of their author or by printing labels. For example, a high quality washing powder box can be printed and then filled with an imitated product. This fact will confuse the consumer, and will have an adverse effect on the customer and the owner of the trademark. As a matter of fact, one of the most important printing establishments in Lebanon printed 60 thousand high-quality containers for Canon products.

As SADER sees it, there are several ways to identify imitated goods such as laboratories, the method of printing, the price, and the comparison of the sold products to the picture on the containing box as well as many other ways. However this doesn't mean that the consumer will be able to distinguish between the imitated goods and the genuine ones.

When asked about the new practical implementations regarding the Intellectual Property, SADER mentions a series of projects that were completed in the past years. In March 2006, a Special Unit for the Combat of Information and Intellectual Property Crimes established in the Internal Security Forces is deemed highly important and exerts enormous efforts despite of the lack of equipments and rehabilitation. Among the newly established units is a unit specialized in Intellectual Property and the Combat of the Traffic of Goods in the Customs Department. Furthermore, the Bar launched this year and for the first time the Committee for Intellectual Property for the review of legislations related to the Intellectual Property and their development through setting draft laws in this regard. Such Committee specializes as well in qualifying lawyers and in other matters as well.

As for the problems encountering the effective protection of the Intellectual Property, SADER stresses the lack of coordination between the concerned State entities on one hand, such as the Internal Security Forces, the Ministry of Economy, the Customs and others, and the civil associations concerned with this matter. Furthermore, these entities lack infrastructure, for there is a major shortage in fittings and rehabilitation and training of elements on the means of combat of Intellectual Property crimes, pursuit and sanction. The offense of drug trafficking is, for example, a felony, whereas the offense perpetrated against the intellectual property is a misdemeanor entailing a less severe sanction, and the courts are less likely to sentence to imprisonment but more likely to limit the sanction to a fine.

For the activation of the combat of imitation, SADER says the judicial field must give the Intellectual Property the necessary attention. Therefore, and in addition to the governmental entities established in this regard, the Lebanese Association for the Intellectual Property is seeking since four years to establish courts or chambers specialized in Intellectual Property claims, as well as specialized public prosecutions in order to accelerate the trials, destroy the confiscated merchandises and order indemnifications and fines in line with the huge losses caused to the producers and with the immense profits gained by the imitators.

SADER says regarding the US concern towards the Intellectual Property that this concern is not restricted to Lebanon but includes the entire world. Yet they have in Lebanon several projects. The large international companies in general and the American in particular are being immensely harmed by the non-protection of the Intellectual Property, especially with regards to sectors of medications, music, protected, coded or computer-related programs, being victims to quasi-complete piracy in Lebanon. The American attention is particularly drawn by the organized crime perpetrated by criminal organizations. Since the penalties imposed on the products imitators are limited to a mere fine, criminal organizations are using the resources of arm, narcotics or slaves trafficking to purchase imitated products and conceal the illegal source of money. This act is considered one of the stages of the crime of money laundering.

SADER points to the role of the civil community and sheds the light on the existence of numerous non-profit civil associations such as LIPA (the Lebanese Intellectual Property Association) which was established in 2004 and which launched a website that contains all issues related to the Intellectual Property such as conferences, studies, new books, jurisdictions and various information aiming at spreading awareness regarding the intellectual property and the protection of the right owners from any violations. Moreover, LIPA will launch for every issue of the Intellectual Property a small guidebook distributed to the public in view of spreading the culture of Intellectual Property. Furthermore, LIPA, in cooperation with USAID, supports the Security Forces by giving lectures for the specialized unit, and by training and rehabilitating its elements.

On the other hand, and with regards to the future of the Intellectual Property, SADER sees it impossible to achieve the total eradication of the violations against the Intellectual Property, even if such is the ultimate goal of the workers in this field. However, the situation may reach a very critical point in case the Government and the judicial system start taking strict decisions in the combat of imitation. Experience in certain countries such as Nigeria shows that the imitated products started competing with the genuine ones for numerous social, cultural and economic reasons; and that the activation of the combat is linked to the technological evolution, the absence of which renders the combat of piracy, especially over the internet, an impossible task.

http://www.nowlebanon.com .