US embassy cable - 05KUWAIT3608

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 KUWAIT 003608 
 
SIPDIS 
 
LONDON FOR TSOU 
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS USTR FOR PBURKHEAD, DBELL, JBUNTIN 
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS USPTO FOR PFOWLER, JNESS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/14/2010 
TAGS: ECON, KIPR, BEXP, KU 
SUBJECT: KUWAIT IPR ENFORCEMENT: MESSAGE RECEIVED, BUT 
LIMITED PROGRESS 
 
REF: A. KUWAIT 0790 
 
     B. KUWAIT 1965 
     C. KUWAIT 2251 
     D. KUWAIT 3222 
     E. 2004 KUWAIT 4217 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reason 1.4 (b) 
 
1.  (U) Summary and Comment: In meetings late July with 
Ministry of Information officials and other interlocutors 
familiar with the IPR situation in Kuwait, Econ Officer heard 
that the GOK has gotten the message on the importance of 
intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement and 
protection.  An inter-ministerial committee on IPR is the 
talk of the town, and the Ministry of Information is expected 
to launch a new IPR enforcement task force in September and 
has made some organizational changes which should bode well 
for increased attention to IPR issues.  The new copyright law 
is being studied and prepared by legal advisors in 
coordination with the Ministry of Information, and is 
expected to be presented to the National Assembly for 
ratification by the end of 2005.  An IPR Exhibition organized 
by the Kuwait Bar Association and a new Kuwaiti IPR 
Association are bringing more concerned players to the table, 
while street enforcement and public awareness campaigns are 
on the increase.  Ministry of Commerce and Kuwaiti Customs 
Agency staff have taken advantage of USPTO IPR training 
courses this summer, and we are actively encouraging Ministry 
of Information participation in future training 
opportunities.  Comment:  We believe that the entry of a new 
Information Minister, the interest of the Prime Minister, and 
various public relations events (including watchlisting) have 
pushed the GOK in the right direction in dealing with IPR 
problems.   However, there is still much to do and the 
Kuwaiti bureaucracy will need to overcome considerable 
inertia to translate good intentions into comprehensive IPR 
protection.   End Summary and Comment. 
 
"We Recognize It's a Big Problem" 
--------------------------------- 
 
2.  (SBU)  During a July 20 meeting, Ministry of Information 
Undersecretary Ibrahim Al-Nouh told Econ Officer that the GOK 
was now "serious about IPR" and "recognizes it is a big 
problem," but "needs more time" to affect real change.  "The 
pirates are now afraid," he added, but said that the 
penalties for piracy were still too weak to act as effective 
deterrents.  According to Al-Nouh, newly-appointed Minister 
of Information Dr. Anas Al-Rasheed is "giving priority to 
IPR."  He said that "the companies expect rapid results," but 
that this was difficult to achieve and the laws still needed 
to be changed.  In a separate meeting with Kuwait Bar 
Association IPR Committee Chairperson Nidal Al-Humaidan, she 
told us that "everyone wants to work on this issue now, 
because Shaykh Sabah (the Prime Minister) is pushing it. 
Everyone wants a part." 
 
A New Order at Ministry of Information 
-------------------------------------- 
 
3.  (SBU) Director of the Intellectual Property Department of 
the Ministry of Information Rasha Al-Sabah has proven in the 
past to have an excellent understanding of what Kuwait needs 
to do on IPR.  She recently returned from maternity leave and 
we had a chance to catch up with her.  (Bio Note: Rasha 
Al-Sabah is the current Amir's granddaughter.  She is about 
35 years old and speaks excellent English.) 
 
4.  (C) Al-Sabah bemoaned the loss of Judge Khaled Al-Hindi 
as IPR Advisor to the Minister of Information.  Al-Sabah said 
that the new IPR Advisor, Fayez Al-Kandari, "lacks hands-on 
practice of IPR" and "needs more education in international 
copyright laws."  Al-Humaidan of the KBA IPR Committee said 
that "Judge Kandari will be key, but won't be as good as 
Judge Al-Hindi."  (Comment: Al-Hindi has exhibited to Embassy 
Officers in the past a clear understanding of IPR issues and 
what Kuwait needs to do to comply with international laws 
(Ref A).  He returned to his normal judicial duties when the 
previous Minister of Information resigned.  Al-Kandari is a 
civil law professor at Kuwait University, and according to 
previous reporting, does not yet have a particularly clear 
grasp of the deficiencies in Kuwait's copyright law (Ref B).) 
 
 
5.  (C) Al-Sabah said that U.S. pressure on Kuwait to take 
action on IPR protection and enforcement has been a "blessing 
in disguise," and that "things would have remained the same 
without U.S. pressure."  She showed Econ Officer a U.S. 
Patent and Trademark Office press release for the STOP! 
campaign (Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy) and said that 
Kuwait should develop a similar program.  According to 
Al-Sabah, the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce & Industry should be 
doing more to educate the business community about IPR, and 
the Kuwaiti Bar Association could do more as well.  She said 
that the Kuwaiti companies that get involved with piracy 
"want a large profit margin but do not understand the effects 
of piracy."  What Kuwait really needs, Al-Sabah said, was "an 
independent agency, like the USPTO," that would bring 
together all of the IPR-related efforts.  "There is no 
coordinated effort now," she complained, "it's just based on 
knowing the right people." 
 
Special 301 Report 
------------------ 
 
6.  (C) The latest version of the Special 301 Report, with 
Kuwait remaining on the Priority Watch List for 2005, appears 
to be causing discomfort in the right places.  Information 
Ministry Undersecretary Al-Nouh described the recent Special 
301 report as "harsh" and asked for "more support."  Director 
of the Information Ministry's Artistic Works Department 
Ghannas Al-Adwani, who has been previously described as "the 
largest impediment to proper IPR protection" (Ref A), told us 
on July 20 that "everyone is offended and upset" by the 
Kuwait's continued placement on the Priority Watch List. 
According to Al-Adwani, Kuwait's "reputation is damaged" and 
the Information Ministry is "giving (its) maximum efforts." 
He added that companies holding IP rights can always make a 
civil complaint, and can sue the IPR violators.  Al-Adwani 
suggested that some problems could be solved if Kuwait had a 
"settlement method" between violators and rights holders.  He 
concluded that "the numbers submitted about Kuwait in the 
Special 301 report were exaggerated."  (Comment: Other 
trusted Ministry of Information interlocutors have told us in 
the past that Al-Adwani had taken it upon himself to bring in 
shop owners accused of selling pirated goods, make them swear 
in writing to stop, and then closed the cases.  Ref A). 
 
Kuwait's Problem is "Different" Than Rest of GCC 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
7.  (SBU) Some of the people we spoke with saw Kuwait as 
having a different problem than other GCC countries, 
particularly UAE, Bahrain and Qatar.  Al-Nouh said that he 
had traveled recently to all three countries to see how they 
tackle their IPR problems, and he said that he thought there 
was a "big difference" in the problems that Kuwait faced.  In 
Kuwait, he explained, there are over 6,000 stores which could 
potentially be selling pirated goods.  In the other 
countries, he said, there were not more than a couple hundred 
stores.  He said that "Kuwait should not be judged the same 
way" as these other smaller countries, but should instead be 
looked at as a market similar to Saudi Arabia.  Al-Adwani of 
the Artistic Works Department echoed Al-Nouh's opinions, 
saying that Dubai "has the power to make quick decisions," 
and that "laws in Kuwait take years" to change and implement. 
 
 
Taking It To The Street 
----------------------- 
 
8.  (SBU) Increased street-level enforcement actions by the 
Ministries of Commerce (Ref D) and Kuwait Customs (Ref E) 
seem to have finally spurred some enforcement actions by the 
Ministry of Information.  Al-Nouh said his inspectors are 
going to shops and making raids, but that the small 
inspection teams have "become well-known to the pirates," 
making them less effective.  He said that the shops now use 
"look-outs," and that the inspectors had even tried using 
their own children to go into stores and ask for copies of 
pirated goods, in order to avoid recognition.  He added that 
it was difficult for him to change inspectors without the 
Minister himself giving an order.  One difficulty, Al-Nouh 
said, is that pirated music CDs and movies are often sold 
behind the counter at textile shops and other types of stores 
which the Ministry of Information does not have the explicit 
authority to enter. 
 
9.  (C) Al-Humaidan of the KBA IPR Committee said that the 
Ministry of Information "doesn't know the (enforcement) 
procedures, follows the wrong procedures, or just doesn't 
care."  She added that the inspectors often don't write the 
date or time on piracy raid reports or forget to sign them, 
thus invalidating them.  "Microsoft has lost many cases 
because of this," she emphasized. 
 
10.  (SBU) Rasha Al-Sabah of the Ministry of Information told 
us that she has been given the authority to take all IPR 
enforcement measures under her jurisdiction and that she will 
have a new task force under her authority starting in 
September.  The task force will consist of 40 people and she 
is trying to recruit young people who all have extensive 
technology training.  Training IPR experts on technology is 
much more difficult than training technology experts on IPR, 
she explained, and added that the Kuwait Institute for Legal 
Education would provide "crash courses" on IPR to the new 
enforcement team members.  Her team will have the authority 
to make seizures and to refer cases to the public prosecutor, 
and will focus on CD, software, and broadcast piracy. 
Despite the high rate of broadcast piracy in Kuwait, Al-Sabah 
noted, the satellite TV companies had offered "zero support." 
 
 
Taking It To The Public 
----------------------- 
 
11.  (U) Rasha Al-Sabah said that the Ministry of Information 
was planning a media campaign on intellectual property 
awareness for after Ramadan, but that direct education was 
needed, "for parents and children."  She envisioned a 
"targeted TV campaign to get out the message," and said that 
it would be ideal to have private companies contribute to 
this campaign. 
 
12.  (SBU) Kuwaiti companies need to be more involved in the 
public campaign, according to Al-Humaidan of the KBA IPR 
Committee.  She said that the challenge is that, with little 
direct foreign company participation in the Kuwaiti economy, 
it was up to each company's agent in Kuwait to push for 
increased IPR protection.  The agents often will not take any 
actions, she explained, for a variety of reasons.  She added 
that many foreign products are sold in Kuwait through 
distributors, not agents, and that the distributors have no 
legal right to speak on behalf of the foreign IP holders. 
She hoped that, with increased attention being paid to fake 
medicines and auto parts, safety issues could be used to 
better educate consumers on the dangers of pirated goods. 
 
13.  (C) Al-Adwani did exhibit some understanding of the 
challenges of bringing the issue to the public's attention. 
"In advanced countries," he explained, "IPR is about the 
public benefit, not the personal interest."  "The street man 
in the Middle East does not understand this," he continued, 
"and does not understand how it harms the reputation of 
Kuwait."  He added that "normal people cannot make the 
distinction between real and pirated products," and that "no 
one makes public complaints about pirated materials, like 
they do about drugs." 
 
New Copyright Law Still In The Works 
------------------------------------ 
 
14.  (SBU) Al-Nouh said that amendments would be added to the 
new copyright law to stiffen punishments for piracy.  Rasha 
Al-Sabah expected the new draft copyright law to be ready 
after Ramadan (November), and would take into account 
comments from USPTO and others.  She said that the new law 
would aim to be in complete compliance with all of Kuwait's 
international obligations, including WIPO treaties and the 
Rome and Bern conventions on copyright protection.  Al-Sabah 
explained that the Kuwait Judicial Society and the Kuwait 
University Faculty of Law were both helping to draft the new 
law. 
 
15.  (SBU) Al-Humaidan of the KBA IPR Committee said that 
jail sentences could be applied for piracy under the current 
law but that no judge is giving out any jail sentences.  She 
said that "if one judge were to give even one month in jail 
to someone, so many people would stop (being involved in 
piracy)."  She pointed out, though, that the jail sentences 
would have to be given to the people at the top of the chain, 
rather than the street-level hawkers. 
 
IPR Exhibition in September 
--------------------------- 
 
16.  (U) The Kuwait Bar Association (KBA) established an IPR 
Committee three years ago, according to Committee Chairperson 
Nidal Al-Humaidan, and the past year has seen "an increased 
emphasis" on the issue.   The KBA and the Ministry of 
Commerce and Industry will hold an "IPR Exhibition" on 
September 19-20.  This exhibition will give companies an 
opportunity to showcase genuine products and will be aimed at 
consumers in order to educate them on the differences between 
real and fake products.  Al-Humaidan told us that the idea of 
an exhibition came about because "everyone was tired of 
always just going to seminars."  "Speaking, speaking, 
speaking," she said, "it's all we ever do."  She explained 
that the sponsors of this exhibition hoped to reach a 
different audience, and added that she was working with the 
Ministry of Education to arrange for high school students to 
come to the exhibition as a field trip. 
Inter-ministerial Committee Formed...Sort Of 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
17.  (U) Al-Nouh and others repeatedly spoke of the new 
inter-ministerial IPR Committee formed in May 2005 (Ref C), 
which includes the Ministries of Information, Commerce, and 
Interior, as well as representatives from the Kuwaiti Customs 
Agency, and the municipalities.  Al-Nouh said that the IPR 
Committee would consist of people at the Undersecretary 
level, but that no one had been specifically named to the 
committee yet.  Al-Humaidan of the KBA IPR Committee said 
that she thought this inter-ministerial committee "could work 
well, if they get together" and "if specific people are 
named." 
 
Kuwait IPR Association 
---------------------- 
 
18.  (SBU) According to Rasha Al-Sabah, the Kuwait IPR 
Association has about 50 members and is headed by Shaykh 
Salman Dawood Al-Sabah.  She said that she is "not sure what 
they are really doing" but that many prominent people, from 
within the GOK and from the private sector, had become 
members.  She said that she thought it was an interesting 
initiative and hoped that it would be put to good use. 
 
But "Things Still Cost Too Much" 
-------------------------------- 
 
19.  (C) While all of the people we spoke with recognize the 
problem, some are still toeing the "piracy exists because 
things cost too much" line.  Al-Nouh himself asked if the 
companies were aware how much the agents and distributors 
actually charge for their products in Kuwait and said that 
the companies "need to know what the realistic difference is 
in prices" between the real and pirated products.  He added 
that the companies "should know if they reduce prices they 
will get more sales of genuine products," and that "consumers 
might decide to buy the legitimate product if it was 
cheaper."  Speaking from the same playbook, Al-Adwani also 
said that "manufacturers should look at the pricing issue." 
Repeating points made by Post before (Ref C), Econ Officer 
explained to Al-Nouh and Al-Adwani that piracy was more than 
just a question of price and that it negatively impacts 
Kuwait's reputation in the world as well as Kuwait's ability 
to attract foreign investment. 
 
More Training Still Needed 
-------------------------- 
 
20.  (U) Al-Nouh said that more training was needed, 
including courses and workshops in Kuwait and any training 
programs available in the United States.  He also repeated an 
earlier request (Ref C) for better technology to track IPR 
enforcement.  "We have a problem in technical expertise, and 
while our plan is long term, we need short term technical 
help," he added.  Rasha Al-Sabah said that Kuwait University 
was now offering training in copyright law as part of the 
Faculty of Law curriculum.  She added that the "Center for 
Excellence in Management" at Kuwait University also has 
experience with WTO obligations and could offer assistance in 
IPR training. 
 
21.  (U) Note: Post has nominated a number of employees of 
the Ministries of Commerce and Information as well as Customs 
Agency employees to attend IPR training programs offered by 
the USPTO.  This summer alone we have sent back three 
Kuwaitis for training and we hope to send additional people 
for training this fall, especially Ministry of Information 
employees.  End Note. 
 
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Visit Embassy Kuwait's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ 
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LEBARON