VZCZCXYZ0010
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHUJA #2436/01 3271108
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 231108Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY ABUJA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1506
INFO RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS PRIORITY 8316
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0130
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC

UNCLAS ABUJA 002436 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT PASS TO USTR (AGAMA) 
TREASURY FOR DPETERS 
USDOC FOR 3317/ITA/OA/KBURRESS 
USDOC FOR 3130/USFC/OIO/ANESA/DHARRIS 
USDOC FOR USPTO - PAUL SALMON 
USDOJ FOR MARIE-FLORE KOUAME 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON KIPR ETRD PGOV NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: IPR CRIMES WORKSHOP WELL-RECEIVED 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - HANDLE ACCORDINGLY 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary.  A three-day workshop on investigative skills for 
IPR crimes had energetic and high participation from Nigerian 
enforcement officials in Abuja.  The course was successful in 
raising awareness as to the seriousness of IPR crimes, providing 
detailed investigative techniques for handling IPR cases from 
inception through prosecution, engendering cooperation among the 
respective Nigerian government (GON) agencies, and promoting good 
relations between IPR interest groups and Nigerian Government 
officials.  The workshop also revealed recurring problems with 
Nigeria's enforcement system, which include IPR laws that hamper the 
GON's investigative authority in the trademark area (for goods other 
than medicines which are covered by food and drug regulations), lack 
of cooperation among GON officials, and lack of expertise among 
magistrates and judges.  It also revealed that the EFCC is the 
agency most equipped to tackle more advanced criminal IP cases. 
Embassy hopes that further INL funding will be granted to continue 
this type of program with magistrates and judges and to reinforce 
the basics of those skills with a more advanced program.  This 
message details other next steps needed to further bolster IPR 
protection.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) The workshop, held in Abuja from November 6 to 8, was funded 
by INL and presented in cooperation with the U.S. Departments of 
Justice, Homeland Security (ICE) and Embassy.    The workshop was 
led by USDOJ prosecutor, Marie-Flore Kouam, and two senior DHS ICE 
investigators, Tchen Sene, and Thomas Hipelius.  Oliver Metzger from 
the US Copyright Office also participated as faculty.  High-level 
support for IPR by the GON was exemplified by the attendance at the 
seminar of Hon. Justice Kayode Somolu, Chairman of the Nigerian Law 
Reform Commission, representing the Attorney-General and Minister of 
Justice; the Director General of the Nigerian Copyright Commission, 
Adebambo Adewopo; Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG); the 
Director-General of Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON), Dr. 
John Akanya; the Director-General of National Agency for Food Drug 
Administration & Control (NAFDAC), Professor Dora Akunyili; the 
Executive Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), 
Mike Nzekwe; the Managing Director, Nigerian Film Corporation, 
Afolabi Adesanya; the Executive Secretary, National Human Rights 
Commission; and the Director General, Legal Aid Council, L. 
Akinlami.  Overall, there were 108 participants from the Nigerian 
Copyright Commission (NCC), the Economic and Financial Crimes 
Commission (EFCC), Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON), the 
National Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigerian 
Customs (customs' anti-smuggling units and customs' border 
officials), the Nigerian Police, as well as investigators and 
prosecutors. 
. 
WORKSHOP GOALS 
-------------- 
. 
¶3.  (U) GON officials listed several reasons why IPR enforcement 
efforts have been sub par in Nigeria - too many officials with 
little to no understanding of IPR, a lack of cooperation and 
communication between interested agencies, and the perception that 
IPR violations are victimless or less important crimes, especially 
in relation to the number of violent crimes occurring in the 
country.  DOJ, DHS, and Embassy provided an interactive training to 
specifically address these issues, encourage cross-agency 
cooperation, and improve IPR enforcement efforts. 
 
¶4.  (U) The training included presentations on the basics of IPR, 
which emphasized the serious dangers of some IPR crimes, specifics 
about the Nigerian law enforcement system, investigative techniques 
of IPR crimes, raids, searches and seizures, and trial preparation. 
In addition to government officials, several right holders presented 
training to explain how they can assist the government in cracking 
down on IPR violators.  These right holders included Pfizer, Inc., 
Wahl, Inc., IFPI for optical goods, two senior law partners from the 
Lagos firm of Jackson, Etti and Edu who represents several U.S. and 
local right holders, the Nigerian Publishing Association, and HI TV 
for satellite TV.  Small interagency-group break-out sessions were 
utilized to further enhance communication among the various GON 
officials as well as highlight various methods for enforcing IPR. 
 
¶5.  (U) Participants told us that the course was successful in 
raising awareness as to the seriousness of IPR crimes, providing 
detailed investigative techniques for handling IPR cases from 
inception through prosecution, engendering cooperation among the 
respective GON agencies, and promoting good relations between IPR 
interest groups and GON officials.  As one of the Nigerian 
participants noted, the workshop "opened his eyes" to the importance 
of IPR enforcement and was an "inspiration for fighting IPR 
crimes." 
. 
PROBLEMS REVEALED 
----------------- 
. 
¶6.  (SBU) The workshop exposed recurring problems with Nigeria's IPR 
laws, including the provisions relevant to trademarks.  The current 
trademark statute does not allow for effective criminal prosecution 
of trademark violations.  These problems can only be addressed and 
resolved through legal revisions.  Participants mentioned that an 
amended law is currently pending and that they are hoping it will 
soon be enacted.  Hon. Justice Kayode Somolu commented that due to 
publicity from this IPR event, his organization, the lead agency for 
revisions of laws, would now seriously and more expeditiously push 
the enactment of an amended trademark statute for revisions. 
(Comment:  the Attorney General's office has had the trademark 
statute "under review" for a long time with little movement. 
Somolu's remarks indicate that the Attorney General's Office 
understands the magnitude and importance of the problems with the 
current law.  End Comment). 
 
¶7. (SBU) Seriously hindering IPR enforcement is a lack of 
communication and cooperation between NCC, NAFDAC, Customs, SON and 
to some extent EFCC, which was further exacerbated by 
inconsistencies between each agencies' governing laws.  The 
participants realized through the break-out sessions and scenarios 
that if they pool their resources and cooperate, they are afforded 
more authority to pursue investigations and prosecutions and can 
avoid some of the hamstringing caused by the trademark statute. 
They discovered that some of these limitations can be circumvented 
by using regulations from other agencies or fraud regulations. 
Several participants commented that before the workshop they had not 
known that cooperation with their sister agencies could be so 
fruitful and asked for contact lists (which were provided) to ensure 
that collaboration would continue beyond the classroom. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Due to low compensation, some agencies suffer from 
corruption, higher turn-over and loss of institutional knowledge. 
Corrupt officials either misuse the system or transfer to other 
non-IP positions to get promoted or leave the government to work for 
the private sector.  All agencies agreed that magistrates (lower 
courts) and judges (higher courts) do not have sufficient knowledge 
of IPR to properly and efficiently adjudicate the current cases, 
lending to inconsistent judgments and delayed prosecutions. 
. 
EFCC READY FOR PRIMETIME 
------------------------ 
. 
¶9.  (SBU) The training revealed that by far, the EFCC is the most 
and perhaps only Nigerian entity at this point that has yielded 
advanced results in criminal IP enforcement.  Though NAFDAC has 
shown actual results in IP criminal enforcement, NAFDAC 
investigations are not sophisticated enough to target the lead 
suppliers, or heads of criminal networks.  The EFCC participants 
indicated that they were already using most of the techniques taught 
in the course, including tracing the proceeds of crime to the source 
of the criminal network, and infiltrating networks with undercover 
operations.  Recently the EFCC successfully investigated a very 
complex IP Internet piracy case.  The EFCC privately disclosed that 
their results were based on developing techniques to circumvent the 
risks of corruption or of tipping off the target.  For example when 
the EFCC raids a target, the Nigerian team leaders (generally 
limited to two to limit finger pointing issues) do not inform the 
rest of the team on the details of the operation, on where they are 
going, why, and the type of investigation.  The raid team will all 
get on a bus and be informed of their assignments only when they 
arrive at the location.  At that point, it will be too late/useless 
to tip a target. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) The FBI attach in Lagos also commented that it has been 
very successful in partnering with the EFCC on several IP criminal 
investigations.  Some EFCC participants informed us that the 
training was generally basic for them, but that it had helped them 
to increase cooperation with other agencies and review some of their 
knowledge. 
. 
NEXT STEPS 
---------- 
. 
¶11.  (SBU) First, and foremost, a revision of the trademark statute 
is required to close loopholes, empower the NCC and Customs with 
sufficient investigative authority, and provide the courts with 
guidance on IPR violations.  Without such revisions, enforcement 
efforts will continue to be shackled and court rulings impeded by 
inconsistent laws. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) EFCC should be involved in all criminal IP trainings in 
Nigeria.  EFCC participants should actually be the first agency to 
be considered when selecting "train-the-trainers" participants for 
Nigeria or follow-up trainings to the US.  Further, the successes 
reached by the EFCC in criminal enforcement of IP could actually be 
shared with other countries on the continent, including South 
Africa.  Because of their direct experience, EFCC participants 
should also assist US faculty when training on criminal IP. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Lastly, magistrates and judges are in dire need of basic 
training on adjudicating IPR cases.  Courts are often overwhelmed by 
the technicalities of IPR and must rely on experts to assist them in 
their final judgment.  Specialized training would alleviate some of 
these problems. 
. 
COMMENT 
------- 
. 
¶14.  (SBU) The success of this IPR investigative training seminar is 
a strong indicator that the Nigerian Government is giving greater 
attention to IPR and is willing to seek assistance to improve its 
enforcement efforts.  It is noteworthy that Embassy and DOJ received 
full support from the main GON IP law enforcement agencies, as well 
as some of the IPR industry groups, in developing the training 
program.  The NCC has already approached Econ Deputy and Kouame 
regarding future cooperation, continued investigative training, and 
other suggested programs.  Even though the workshop was very 
successful, the USG cannot reasonably expect that without U.S. 
follow-up and supportive workshops, the Nigerian participants will 
be able (from just attending the workshops) to effectively implement 
all of the best practices for criminal IP enforcement that they 
learned.  To this end, USDOJ and Embassy plan to submit a joint 
proposal to INL for follow-up trainings to build on the progress 
accomplished thus far, including more involvement of the EFCC. 
 
¶15.  This cable has been cleared with USDOJ Marie-Flore Kouam. 
 
PIASCIK