VZCZCXYZ0022
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDG #1009/01 1171551
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 271551Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8110
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC PRIORITY 1647
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCOWCV/CUSTOMS CARIBBEAN ATTACHE MIAMI FL PRIORITY
RUEFHLC/HQS DHS WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 001009 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA, WHA/CAR SEARBY, INL/P KBROWN, 
EEB/TPP/IPE; USDOC ALSO FOR USPTO; 
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS FTC ARMANDO IRIZARRY 
JUSTICE FOR OPDAT ROBERT LIPMAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV ETRD KIPR DR
SUBJECT: BEST PRACTICES WORKSHOP PUTS DOMINICANS ON ROAD TO 
IMPROVED IPR ENFORCEMENT 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  The U.S. government has regularly placed 
the Dominican Republic on the annual Special 301 Watch List 
because of Dominican ineffectiveness in combating 
violations of intellectual property rights (IPR). 
Particularly at issue are piracy of optical disks and theft 
of broadcast rights for both cable and "open" or "free" 
television. With the recent entry into force of the 
DR-CAFTA free trade agreement and its associated mechanisms 
dealing with IPR violations, Dominican authorities have now 
placed a special emphasis on combating IPR piracy.  In this 
context, the Embassy, in coordination with the Department 
of Justice's Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, 
Assistance and Training (OPDAT) last week hosted a 3-day 
workshop.  The product was a 55-page Dominican multi-agency 
"best practices" manual for fighting IPR piracy.  End 
Summary. 
 
--------------------- 
Workshop Participants 
--------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Funding for this workshop was transferred to OPDAT 
for use in DR-CAFTA countries by the Department of State's 
Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement. 
Facilitators were provided by OPDAT (Program Director 
Robert Lipman) and the Federal Trade Commission (Attorney 
Armando Irizarri, Bureau of Competition).  Logistics were 
arranged by the Embassy. 
 
¶3. (U) Embassy selection of participants covered the full 
range of governmental agencies dealing with IPR issues, 
with 18 attendees coming from the ranks of the Directorates 
General of Customs (DGA) and Taxation (DGII), the National 
Police, the National Copyright Office (ONDA), the Attorney 
General's Office, the National Institute for Forensic 
Science (INACIF), the Dominican Institute for 
Telecommunications (INDOTEL, cable regulation), and the 
Financial Analysis Unit of the National Commission on Drugs 
(charged with investigation of money-laundering not 
directly related to the financial system).  An additional 6 
participants were chosen from the judicial sector, as well 
as from victimized industries (primarily music producers, 
software manufacturers, and pharmaceutical enterprises). 
 
¶4. (SBU) Getting these 24 participants together at a single 
time and for a common purpose was a notable achievement. 
The private sector watchdog International Intellectual 
Property Alliance cites the country's "poor coordination" 
and "obstructionist" attitudes as contributing factors that 
should, in its opinion, lead to Special 301 Priority Watch 
List status for the Dominican Republic in 2007.  (See 
http://www.iipa.com/rbc/2007/2007SPEC301DOMIN ICANREPUBLIC.pd 
f)  Better still was the group's commitment to work 
together in the development of the manual, and more 
critically, to continue functioning as an IPR anti-piracy 
taskforce. 
 
---------------------------------- 
Draft of a "Best Practices" Manual 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) With both round-table discussions and focused work 
by self-selected subgroups, participants created a draft 
manual concentrating on the following areas:  1) initial 
intelligence gathering and detection techniques, especially 
in the areas of medicine, software, music and film, 
television signals, artistic works (e.g., sculpture, 
painting, etc.) and literary works, as well as regarding 
personal products destined for individual consumers (e.g., 
appliances, cosmetics, sunglasses, etc.); 2) investigation 
techniques; 3) prosecution techniques; and 4) a proper and 
expansive application of the entire criminal code for IPR 
piracy. 
 
---------- 
Next Steps 
---------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) It would be wonderful to think that the immediate 
aftermath of this workshop will be a 10-fold increase in 
 
the investigation and prosecution of IPR violators, 
including a shift away from street-level distributors to 
wholesale manufactures.  But both Embassy officials and 
workshop participants realize that this will not be the 
case.  At the workshop's close, participants noted that 
much work remains to improve the draft manual prior to full 
government-wide distribution.  There is also the need for 
expanded training of governmental personnel on IPR policies 
and procedures.  On the former point, workshop participants 
agreed to continue their work as an IPR anti-piracy 
taskforce, part of which would involve scheduled periodic 
meetings and a formal process of review and improvement of 
the manual.  The next meeting is scheduled for May 27, 
¶2007.  Participants also expressed their desire for an 
additional USG-sponsored anti-piracy program directed 
exclusively at the judiciary; this is under consideration 
for the close of 2007, contingent on availability of 
funding. 
 
¶7. (SBU) As for the Embassy, our view is that only a fully 
functioning, stable, and permanent taskforce can achieve 
the level of Dominican government buy-in necessary to 
achieve the dramatic changes in numbers of investigations 
and types of suspects sought.  The Embassy has already 
placed mention of this taskforce in a published op-ed 
celebrating World Intellectual Property Day - one step in 
the Embassy's efforts to foster a group recognition and 
identity.  The Embassy will continue to work toward further 
taskforce strengthening, as well as the expansion of 
associated programming. 
 
¶8. (U) This report and extensive additional material are 
available on the Embassy's classified SIPRNET at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/santodomingo/  
HERTELL