VZCZCXRO8113
RR RUEHDE
DE RUEHDE #0326 0221226
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 221226Z JAN 06
FM AMCONSUL DUBAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7914
INFO RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 0803
RUEHZM/GCC C COLLECTIVE
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 0001
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 0095
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 0012
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 0024
RUEHMS/AMEMBASSY MUSCAT 0015
RUEHYN/AMEMBASSY SANAA 0009

C O N F I D E N T I A L DUBAI 000326 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  1/18/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV TSPL ETRD XI ZP TC
SUBJECT: IPR WORKSHOP IN DUBAI BRINGS TOGETHER REGIONAL JUDGES AND 
BUSINESS 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Jason L. Davis, Consul General, Consulate Dubai, 
State Department. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (e) 
 
 
 
1.(U) Summary: The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) 
organized and held a "Judicial Workshop on Intellectual Property 
Rights (IPR) Enforcement", in Dubai from January 16-18. The 
training workshop was funded through the U.S. Department of 
State's Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and sponsored 
by USPTO, MEPI and the UAE Ministry of Justice. It aimed to 
build capacity and encourage enforcement of IPR under the TRIPS 
Agreement. On the margins of the workshop, a GM IPR investigator 
provided a relatively positive assessment of IPR enforcement in 
the Northern Emirates (see para 5).  End Summary. 
 
IPR Training, Networking 
------------------------ 
 
¶2. (U) More than 40 judges from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, 
Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE participated in a MEPI 
funded, USPTO-run workshop in IPR enforcement held January 16-18 
in Dubai. Due to the government shutdown after the death of 
Dubai Ruler Sheikh Maktoum, the Yemeni participants were not 
able to get UAE visas in time to attend the conference. The 
program was led by three USPTO personnel, with three sitting 
U.S. judges, judges from Egypt and the UAE, as well as 
representatives from General Motors, Proctor and Gamble, 
Microsoft, and the Arabian Anti-Piracy Alliance also giving 
presentations. The seminar was simultaneously translated into 
Arabic and French. 
 
3.(U) The program featured presentations, panel discussions, 
group discussions and case studies on types of intellectual 
property, standards for protecting and enforcing IPR under TRIPS 
and recent free trade agreements, alternative dispute resolution 
and judicial mediation, calculation of damages, handling 
confidential information, requests for emergency relief and 
 
SIPDIS 
other related topics. The workshop also served to help judges 
from across the MEPI region build networks. 
 
4.(U) Two Arabic language UAE newspapers gave positive coverage 
to the event. Dr. Mohamed Al Kamali, Director General of the UAE 
Ministry of Justice Judicial Training and Studies Institute, a 
presenter at the seminar, told Al-Ittihad newspaper the UAE's 
regulations pertaining to anti-piracy are considered highly 
preventive and provide a healthy business environment for 
legitimate trading. He stressed that the UAE seeks to break into 
the top 10 lowest piracy-rate countries in the world; in 2004 
UAE ranked 16th and led all MENA countries, according to a study 
by the International Data Corporation. 
 
IPR Enforcement in the Northern Emirates 
---------------------------------------- 
 
5.(C) In a sidebar discussion during the workshop, Warren 
Hayday, Investigations Manager at General Motors' Africa and 
Middle East division, spoke to PolEconoff about counterfeit 
automobile parts in the northern Emirates. Hayday, who works 
directly with customs or the economic departments in the various 
emirates, pronounced himself quite satisfied with the 
relationships. When Hayday provides specific derogatory 
information to authorities, they generally have a good, if at 
times slower than desired, response time. GM rarely seeks to 
prosecute offenders, relying instead on confiscating parts and 
on the imposition of standard fines by the emirates. Authorities 
allow him to videotape the destruction of the counterfeit goods. 
GM provides training on how to identify counterfeit parts to 
authorities at ports in the northern emirates, most recently in 
Ajman. Hayday stressed that although some sales of counterfeit 
parts do occur in the Emirates, a larger problem is UAE's role 
as a transshipment point to Saudi Arabia. He claims that all of 
the ports in Dubai and the northern Emirates, as well as the 
associated free zones, are used to transship counterfeit parts. 
 
BURNS 
 
DAVIS