European Union Communication: IP enforcement

Communication of the European Commission: “Enhancing the enforcement of intellectual property rights in the internal market” [COM(2009) 467 Final]

This EC's communication replies to the invitations made by the Council Resolution 2008/C 253/01 in order to protect intellectual property rights and to put into effect actions to combat counterfeiting and piracy within the internal market. The communication pursue this goal by three main means:

1. European Counterfeiting and Piracy Observatory: the aim of this Observatory is to gather, monitor and report information and data related to intellectual property rights. The material collected is, therefore, used for the analysis and assessment of the social and economic effects of counterfeiting and piracy. Moreover, the Observatory promotes the spreading of best practice amongst public authorities and of successful private sector strategies. Despite the Observatory be based on Commission structures, stakeholders, Member States, consumers are invited to play an active role to strengthen the fight against counterfeiting and piracy.

2. Administrative cooperation across Europe: cross-border authorities need to develop a better cooperation in order to ensure an effective protection of IP rights. Furthermore, the Commission and the Member States (especially the National IP Offices) have to create a network of contact points and to promote the spreading of best practices. The communication calls also for more transparency in the system and for modern information-sharing tools necessary to enhance the cooperation between stakeholders.

3. Voluntary arrangements between stakeholders: the Commission states that fighting against counterfeiting and piracy benefits not only the right-holders but also other stakeholders such as importers, trade fair organisers, retailers, including e-commerce platforms. These actors are invited to develop voluntary mutual cooperation with the Commission acting as facilitator and supervisor.