EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES TRADEMARK ASSOCIATION

Transcription

1 EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES TRADEMARK ASSOCIATION Warsaw 8th June 2006

2 Counterfeit and Cognac: The view of a right-holder

3 Counterfeit is an evolving problem Anything that is bought or sold can now be counterfeited

4 In the EU, seizures have increased by 1000% in just 6 years, between 1998 and Not only luxury products are counterfeited: All the business sectors are concerned: Cigarettes, pharmaceuticals, food etc.

5 Counterfeit: devastating effects on: Trade Free circulation of goods Employment (an estimation of just in France ) Development (investment) Public health

6 EU-Breakdown by number of cases registered and articles seized by type of product 2003 Product type Number of cases registered by Customs % Number of articles seized % Comparison of the number of articles Perfumes and cosmetics % Clothing and accessories % a) Sportswear % b) Other clothing (ready-to % c) Clothing accessories % Foodstuffs, alcoholic and other drinks % Electrical equipment % Computer equipment % CD (audio, games,software, DVD etc.), % Watches and jewellery % Toys and games % Other goods % Cigarettes % TOTAL EU %

7 Evolution of the number of articles seized between

8 Foodstuffs, alcoholic and other drinks Breakdown by number of cases expressed as % by provenance or origin of goods (EU) 2003 TURKEY 18% POLAND 18% CHILE 18% UKRAINE 12% EGYPT 6% CHINA 6% SPAIN 6% OTHERS 16% Perfums and cosmetics Clothing and accessories a) Sportswear b) Other clothing (ready-to-wear, ) UAE 31% THAILAND 37% THAILAND 61% THAILAND 37% TURKEY 10% CHINA 15% CHINA 8% TURKEY 12% THAILAND 9% TURKEY 10% TURKEY 4% CHINA 11% RUSSIA 9% CZECK REP. 3% MOROCCO 3% CZECH REP. 5% POLAND 6% POLAND 2% HONG KONG 2% POLAND 4% MALAYSIA 5% USA 2% BRASIL 2% SWITZERLAND 3% c) Clothing accessories (bags,sunglasses ) 26% 21% 10% 8% 3% 2% 22% 8% Electrical equipment Computer equipment (computers,screens ) VIETNAM 2% OTHERS 24% OTHERS 17% OTHERS 33% OTHERS 27% THAILAND CHINA TURKEY HONG KONG MOROCCO UAE OTHERS NC ** CHINA 55% CHINA 47% HONG KONG 22% HONG KONG 14% TAIWAN 6% UAE 7% UAE 4% SWITZERLAND 7% THAILAND 3% USA 2% TURKEY 3% PERU 2% KOREA 1% POLAND 2% NC ** 7% NC ** 3% NC ** 6% OTHERS 6% OTHERS 19% CD (audio, games,software etc.), DVD,cassettes.. THAILAND 18% MALAYSIA 14% PAKISTAN 13% BELGIIUM 9% CHINA 8% HONG KONG 4% OTHERS 29% NC ** 5% Watches and jewellery THAILAND 16% CHINA 16% HONK KONG 10% USA 9% MALAYSIA 8% POLAND 6% OTHERS 24% NC ** 11% Toys and games Other goods CHINA 37% CHINA 40% THAILAND 32% HONG KONG 15% HONG KONG 10% INDIA 8% UKRAINE 2% THAILAND 6% USA 1% TAIWAN 2% MALAYSIA 1% UAE 3% SWITZERLAND 1% OTHERS 33% OTHERS 16% NC ** 3% Cigarettes TOTAL EU POLAND 30% THAILAND 28% CHINA 19% CHINA 18% RUSSIA 10% TURKEY 6% UKRAINE 2% HONG KONG 6, 5 % GREECE 2% MALAYSIA 5% MAURITIUS 2% PAKISTAN 3% OTHERS 18% USA 2,5% NC ** 17% OTHERS 31% NC**: Not communicated

9 Source: Le Figaro

10 Alcohol : A great danger for the health of consumer! For example, a Counterfeit of Cognac can be a low-quality brandy but can also be some Ethylic Alcohol with caramel! Ex: 2002 Ukraine Donetsk: death for bad alcohol consumption Linked with mafias all around the world

11

12

13 Cognac is a luxury product with a strong added-value: it is traditionally one of the favourite target of counterfeiters.

14

15

16 The economical importance of Cognac Millions of equivalent bottles Asia represents 20,1% of Cognac exportations worldwide Recently, an important increase of exportations toward Singapour (11,3 = +70,8%) and China (3,7 = +62,2%)

17 Exportations Exportations of Cognac worldwide represent more than 1,3 billions of euros each year. This represents the equivalent of: - 21 Airbus A321 or - 67 rails of TGV Duplex

18 Cognac is a GI It is expressly recognized on a national level by two decrees dated May 15 th 1936 and January 13 th 1938, and, on a European level, by European Regulation n 1576/89 dated May 29 th 1989.

19 Cognac main problems: Cognac may not be produced in any country other than France ( produced of France or product of France ): it must not originate from countries such as Ukraine, Vietnam or Russia

20 Prohibited terms

21 Prohibited terms

22 According to the terms of article 7, paragraph 5 of the EU regulation 1576/89: The geographical names listed in annexe II [ ] may not be translated»

23 Prohibited terms

24 Prohibited terms

25 Furthermore: article 8 of the same regulation specifies that: in order to be marketed for human consumption, spirit drinks produced in the Community may not be described by associating word or phrases such as like, type, style, made, flavour or any other similar indications with any of the sales descriptions mentioned in this regulation.

26 Prohibited terms

27 Regulation 1383/2003 : a new weapon for GI s

28 The expression rights holder is extended to : Any other person authorized An authorized user through a power of attorney of any kind A representative of the rights holder

29 BNIC is a right-holder

30 The Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac Private organisation Represents all those working in the Cognac Financed by all those working in the Cognac

31 The Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac Fulfils a number of public functions Monitoring stocks of Cognac Verifying the authenticity of Cognacs Verifying the age of Cognacs Issuing certificates of age and origin

32 To fulfil these public functions, the BNIC benefits from a delegation of power of : The French Custom administration The French Fraud administration The BNIC has a public legitimacy to protect the Cognac industry

33 Application for customs action: It is free of taxes National application Community application Representatives, usually lawyers The application for action is valid for one year

34 Application content: All information needed to identify the infringing consignment in an effective way. Article 5 (5) of the regulation: An accurate and detailed technical description of goods Any specific information concerning the type of fraud Name and address of the contact person appointed by the right-holder (adm & jur) To sum up: anything that can facilitate the job of Customs. Even if it is optional (details).

35

36

37

38 Declaration of liability Article 6 The right-holder declares that he will bear the costs of the suspected importer, in case the suspected goods are found not to infringe an intellectual property right or if the proceedings are not completed, due to the right s holder s acts, omissions or negligence.

39

40 Prior legislation (1994): Right-holder had to secure an amount of money which would cover all possible costs. This new system is better for SMEs: now,the right-holder has to bear the cost caused by the concrete application of regulation 1383/2003.

41 Ex Officio procedure Sufficient grounds to suspect infringement and no longer evident infringement Customs ask the right-holder for confirmation.

42 The recent example : more than bottles of «Georgian Cognac» in Antwerp!

43

44 Simplified procedure: Facilitates action taken regarding smaller consignments or goods if the importer or the declarant is unknown.

45 Parties on both sides can also cooperate in order to avoid court proceedings.

46

47 Weak points of this regulation: It can be weakened by considerations of business confidentiality = lack of informations for the customs Brandies exported in order to become Cognac Lack of representatives in some countries Lack of Hi-tech ressources needed to be more reactive The economical weakness of some rightsholders and SMEs (ex: costs of a wrongful detention )

48 Thank you for your attention!