US embassy cable - 04MADRID1108

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 001108 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR; STATE FOR EB/IPC AREIAS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KIPR, ETRD, ECON, SP, Trade Issues 
SUBJECT: SPAIN'S INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY TRAINING, NEEDS AND 
BEST PRACTICES 
 
REF: Secstate 42798 
 
1. There is a significant amount of intellectual property 
(IP) training and education in Spain sponsored by government 
ministries, police entities, and industry groups.  To add to 
GOS efforts, we have arranged working breakfasts, 
roundtables, and lunches with the active participation of 
government representatives, police contacts, and 
intellectual property professionals to discuss policies and 
strategies to combat piracy. 
 
2. Answers are queued to reftel questions: 
 
A.1  N/A 
 
A.2 The Spanish Ministries of Culture (where the Copyright 
Office is located) and Science and Technology (where the 
Patent and Trademark Office is located,) through an Inter- 
Ministerial Intellectual Property Rights Committee have 
conducted or sponsored a number of IP-related seminars and 
courses to inform and train judges, prosecutors, police, and 
experts, and at times, government officials from Latin 
America or the EU enlargement countries.  The Inter- 
Ministerial Committee annual report for 2002 (the latest 
available) lists a variety of IP training programs conducted 
with GOS involvement.  Examples include: 
 
- The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (OEPM is the 
acronym in Spanish) arranged a seminar about patent and 
trademark law for judges and prosecutors from Latin America. 
 
- The Studies Center for the Development of Investigation, 
in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and 
Technology, organized a series of 10 conferences to analyze 
the impact of new technologies on IP. 
 
- OEPM carried out several different seminars in 
collaboration with WIPO and the European Patent Office to 
train Latin American officials on legal, administrative and 
economic aspects of patent and trademark protection. 
 
- The Ministry of Justice organized a seminar on legal 
aspects of IP protection in the EU during Spain's 2002 EU 
Presidency. 
 
- Since 1996, the Ministry of Culture has been working with 
the Spanish Judiciary Counsel on courses for judges and 
prosecutors.  Thus far 149 professionals have participated. 
 
- Spanish Customs Officials made presentations at seminars 
organized by the EU to help train candidate country 
officials on IP issues. 
 
- In 2002 the National Police included intellectual property 
issues in training courses in which over one thousand 
officers have participated. 
 
IP industry groups in Spain are also extremely active.  They 
have developed numerous roundtables, seminars and courses 
for the police, judges, and/or prosecutors about 
intellectual property and piracy, copyright laws, and IP in 
the EU.  Events take place in all over Spain. 
 
B.1  On a more or less annual basis, the Spanish Association 
of Authors and Publishers (Sociedad General de Autores y 
Editores, SGAE) conducts a two-day international seminar 
about intellectual property rights protection.  We attended 
the November 2002 seminar and found it extremely effective. 
Spanish and international speakers successfully highlighted 
the need for fighting piracy.  A roundtable about the 
activities of the various Spanish police forces against IP 
crimes was particularly informative.  Members of Parliament 
and the then-Minister of Justice also participated.  The 
effect of the conference was multiplied as the domestic 
press carried over a dozen articles on IP issues as a result 
of the conference. 
 
B.2 We believe the type of seminar described in B.1 is 
especially useful as the high-level participants ensure 
diffuse media coverage and a high turnout.  More technical 
segments are also targeted at the audience of interested IP 
industry representatives and government officials. 
 
B.3 In November 2003, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for 
Market Access and Compliance, William H. Lash, III, raised 
IP issues with senior-level officers at the Ministry of 
Culture, at the Presidency of the Government, and the 
Ministry of Economy.  He also led an IPR roundtable with 
industry associations. 
 
In July 2003, Embassy Madrid invited AOL-Time Warner's Vice 
President and Associate General Counsel for Intellectual 
Property Policy, Shira Perlmutter, and the Vice President 
for Legal and Public Policy, Alessandra Silvestri, to 
discuss strategies to combat IP piracy with a wide range of 
Spanish contacts.  One event brought in over 40 senior-level 
government officials, lawyers, and private association 
representatives.  The two speakers also met separately with 
eight senior government and law enforcement officials. 
 
In 2000, Embassy Madrid hosted a breakfast roundtable, a 
working lunch and a meeting on IPR issues in which over 40 
Spaniards participated.  Participants were senior-level 
representatives from industry associations and the national 
government.  Deputy Assistant USTR for Intellectual 
Property, Claude Burcky, and attorney-advisor at the United 
States Copyright Office, Rachel Goslins, led all the 
meetings.  The U.S. Consulate General in Barcelona hosted 
similar events. 
 
C.1 Post believes the IV program can be extremely useful to 
introduce host country officials to the most innovative U.S. 
strategies to fight IP infringement.  In FY 2002 two Spanish 
contacts (a university law professor and a mid-level 
copyright office functionary) participated in IP-specific IV 
programs in the U.S.  In FY 2004, another mid-level 
copyright office official and two judges will participate in 
a similar program. 
 
We have proposed, for FY 2005, a special IV program to train 
national police, local police and civil guard officers in 
the newest strategies to fight IP infringement. 
 
ARGYROS