VZCZCXYZ0004
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #1720/01 2421524
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 301524Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9085
INFO RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 6504
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 6707
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 0728
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 6361
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ AUG SAO PAULO 3505
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 2338

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001720 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
EB/TPP/IPE FOR JBOGER, RWALLACE AND RWATTS 
INL FOR JVIGIL 
DEPT PLS PASS TO USTR JENNIFER CHOE GROVES, KATHARINE DUCKWORTH 
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE FOR OPDAT (ROBERT LIPMAN) 
DOC/ITA/MAC/OIPR FOR CATHERINE PETERS 
PLEASE PASS TO USPTO JURBAN AND LOC STEPP 
TREASURY FOR ROSELLEN ALBANO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KIPR ECON AR
SUBJECT: WORKSHOP HOSTED BY EMBASSY ADVANCES MUTUAL INTERESTS OF 
ARGENTINA AND THE U.S. IN COMBATING IPR VIOLATIONS 
 
Ref:  Buenos Aires 750 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (SBU) Embassy Buenos Aires hosted a successful workshop, led by 
the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Overseas Prosecutorial 
Development, Assistance and Training (DOJ/OPDAT), to facilitate the 
drafting by Argentine government officials from eight separate GoA 
entities and private sector representatives of a manual of best 
practices to combat intellectual property rights (IPR) violations. 
The workshop is a key deliverable in Post's IPR action plan. 
Participants also heard from several speakers representing 
Argentina's creative industries, and discussed Argentina's IPR 
challenges with the Ambassador.  One result of the workshop was the 
creation of a draft manual on best practices for combating IPR 
violations in Argentina - a draft which participants committed to 
continue to revise and improve and which will eventually be 
published and distributed with Post/INL assistance.  The workshop 
also launched the first public/private IPR working group in the 
history of Argentina, one which has the potential to have a concrete 
impact on counterfeiting and piracy in Argentina.  End Summary. 
 
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MANUAL LABOR 
------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) Embassy Buenos Aires hosted an August 14-16, 2007 workshop 
to facilitate the drafting by Argentine government officials and 
private sector representatives of a manual of best practice 
techniques to combat intellectual property rights (IPR) violations. 
The results were a working draft of a manual and a broad agreement 
by the participants to form an Argentine IP working group.  The 
workshop was designed and led by a DOJ/OPDAT Program Manager and his 
training team.  The draft manual created during the workshop was 
specific to Argentina and reflected the broad experience and 
knowledge of the workshop participants.  Once finalized and 
published, this "best practices" manual can be used as a resource by 
all Argentine prosecutors and investigators handling IPR cases.  The 
conference, along with the subsequent publishing of the manual, is a 
key deliverable in Post's strategic IPR plan (reftel).  The 
Argentine participants in the program included a federal criminal 
judge, prosecutors (federal and from the province and city of Buenos 
Aires), investigators from the Gendarmeria and Prefectura Naval, tax 
and customs authorities, private attorneys who work on IP issues, 
and representatives of private sector organizations interested in 
improved IP protection.  Because of the high level of piracy-related 
crimes in the Tri-Border Area (where Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil 
share borders), Post arranged for both an Argentine customs official 
and an official in an Argentine prosecutor's office from that region 
to participate in the workshop. 
 
¶3. (SBU) After a preliminary discussion about the importance of 
protecting intellectual property rights, the participants were 
divided into three teams and began to draft the manual.  Each team 
was given a specific section to work on (intelligence gathering, 
investigation procedures and techniques, and possible charges and 
defenses against those charges).  The teams worked separately to 
brainstorm, draft and refine their sections until a first draft was 
created.  Once each team completed a draft, it was distributed to 
the other teams for editing, revision and additions.  When the 
sections were put together, the draft was reviewed by the entire 
group at the end of the program. 
 
---------------------------- 
EMPHASIZING MUTUAL INTERESTS 
---------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) To help participants realize the scope of the toll of IPR 
violations on Argentina, the workshop was complemented by 
presentations by representatives of two of Argentina's most 
prominent creative industries -- music and film.  One speaker was 
 
 
Charly Alberti, drummer of famed Argentine rock group Soda Stereo, 
who noted that "A society that doesn't protect intellectual property 
is a society that doesn't encourage thinking, and therefore will not 
be able to evolve."  Carlos Mentasti, part owner of Sono Argentina 
film studio and a movie producer, spoke about the significant number 
of persons employed in the production of a film.  The final speaker 
was the Ambassador, who discussed with participants their work on 
the manual and their perspectives on IPR protection in Argentina. 
The Econ section also hosted a reception which allowed the 
participants to meet members of Post's law enforcement agencies 
(LegAtt and DEA) and the Political section - an important 
opportunity, as most of the GoA participants have responsibilities 
that extend beyond IP. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
APPLYING LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE AL CAPONE CASE 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The second result of the workshop was the formation of an 
intellectual property working group.  The DOJ/OPDAT team explained 
at length that if law enforcement was going to be successful in 
complex cases, law enforcement officials (prosecutors, police, etc.) 
needed to work as partners during the investigation and prosecution. 
 The DOJ/OPDAT team also pointed out that to make optimal use of the 
draft best practices manual the participants of the workshop would 
need to continue to meet to review and refine the manual so that it 
would be good enough to use both as a law enforcement and training 
tool.  The OPDAT team then encouraged the participants to pick a 
date, a time, and a place to meet as a working group - and the 
participants did so.  In addition, the participants agreed that 
their first working group meeting could go beyond the manual into 
other areas of cooperation on intellectual property crimes and 
issues.  The first working group meeting will be held on September 5 
and will be hosted by the federal judge who participated in the 
workshop.  In addition, as suggested by the DOJ/OPDAT training team, 
the participants decided to thereafter meet monthly as a working 
group. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Cooperation among government entities in Argentina on IP 
enforcement has long been lacking, and the increased efficiency and 
effectiveness that could result from the working group is 
potentially widespread.  Post is not aware of any prior public (and 
multi-agency)/private IPR working group in Argentina.  The level of 
enthusiasm about the workshop was encouraging.  Indeed, AFIP (the 
Argentine tax authority) officials, though recognizing that they 
traditionally have not had a direct role in IPR enforcement, 
requested and received Post's invitation and sent two tax auditors 
to the workshop, and both the Argentine Customs service and the 
Prefectura sent more participants than anticipated.  It was 
DOJ/OPDAT that encouraged Post to invite to the workshop all 
potentially relevant agencies because a multi-disciplinary approach 
is often the best approach to combating IPR crime.  As pointed out 
during the workshop by the OPDAT team, Al Capone went to prison on 
tax offenses, illustrating that a multi-disciplinary approach, one 
that includes tax investigators, is often the best approach when 
investigating and prosecuting complex crimes. 
 
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NEXT STEPS 
---------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) It is anticipated that participants in the workshop, and 
their colleagues, will over the coming weeks continue to expand and 
improve the manual.  When this working group deems the manual ready 
for initial distribution, Post expects to publish several hundred 
copies (with INL funds) and begin to distribute them to prosecutors 
and investigators throughout Argentina.  Ideally, some of the 
recipients of the manual will contribute their ideas and suggestions 
to the manual, so that it will continue to improve over time and be 
made more relevant to each entity using it as a tool - for 
investigations, prosecutions, or training.  The working group will 
be an ideal forum to continue that process, and will also facilitate 
coordination between the different GoA enforcement agencies, as 
 
 
several workshop participants noted to Emboffs and the DOJ 
coordinators that there was a need for increased cooperation and 
communication between their agencies. 
 
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COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Argentina's 13-year tenure on the Special 301 Priority 
Watch List is attributable in no small part to the widespread 
availability of pirated and counterfeit products, which our 301 
report says "calls for stronger IPR enforcement actions."  This 
manual stands to make investigations and prosecutions of criminal 
cases more efficient and effective and so is a step on that path. 
Armed with written guidance on enforcement procedures -- in the form 
of a "best practices" manual drafted by and for Argentina's own 
experts on combating IPR violations -- the GoA's law enforcement 
community will be better positioned to do more with the limited 
resources dedicated to this problem.  While the newly-created manual 
and the newly-formed working group don't address the political issue 
of Argentina dedicating more resources to fight IP violations (an 
option Post considers unlikely, given the current high level of 
public concern about other crimes), combined, the manual and the 
working group are likely to have a synergetic effect that makes it 
possible for the GoA to accomplish more in the area of IP 
enforcement without additional resources.  The working group - given 
its broad GoA participation, and input from the private sector - 
might, in time, be the perfect vehicle to effect concrete 
improvement in IPR enforcement at national and local levels in 
Argentina. 
 
¶9. (U) This cable was cleared by the DOJ/OPDAT workshop 
coordinators. 
 
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REPLICABILITY 
------------- 
 
¶10. (U) The success of this program was a direct result of the fact 
that, from its inception, it was planned and implemented as a 
partnership involving the State Department (INL and Post) and 
DOJ/OPDAT.  The technical assistance techniques used in this program 
can be applied to a variety of crimes affecting U.S. interests, such 
as financial crimes (including corruption), crimes involving 
intellectual property, and human trafficking.  Posts interested in 
implementing a program of this nature may wish to contact AmEmbassy 
Buenos Aires EconOff (Brian Jensen at 54-11-5777-4403, 
JensenBD@state.gov) or DOJ/OPDAT (Robert Lipman at (202) 514-0950, 
Robert.Lipman@usdoj.gov). 
 
WAYNE