VZCZCXYZ0003
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHEG #3297/01 3241425
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 201425Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7489
INFO RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS CAIRO 003297 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EB/TPP/IPE BOGER 
USTR FOR GROVES 
COMMERCE FOR USPTO KARIN FERRITER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR EG
SUBJECT: EGYPTIAN HEALTH, TRADE OFFICIALS ENGAGE USTR'S 
GROVES ON IPR 
 
REF: A. STATE 107629 
 
     ¶B. CAIRO 2735 
 
Sensitive but unclassified, please protect accordingly. 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The GOE is anxious to deepen engagement 
with the USG on concerns about Intellectual Property Rights 
protection, officials from the ministries of health, trade, 
culture, and telecommunications told USTR's Jennifer Groves 
during a visit to Cairo on Nov. 12 to discuss USTR's Special 
301 Initiative Action Plan.  However, GOE health officials 
vigorously defended an interpretation of the Trade-Related 
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement 
that fails to adequately protect pharmaceutical test data, 
and information technology officials conceded that the 
Ministry of Culture -- which has a poor record of IPR 
enforcement -- has retained authority for policing optical 
discs containing pirated movies, music, and non-functional 
copyright-protected material.  The GOE experts agreed to 
participate in digital video conferences in coming months to 
address these concerns in more detail.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (U) Jennifer Groves, USTR Director for Intellectual 
Property and Innovation and Chair of the 301 Committee, and 
Karin Ferriter, attorney advisor in the US Patent and 
Trademark Office, visited Cairo on Nov. 12 to discuss items 
in USTR's Special 301 Initiative Action Plan for Egypt (ref 
A) with a team of Egyptian government IPR experts.  The 
discussions followed on discussions with the GOE by USTR and 
Post regarding the release of the initiative action plan in 
August (ref B).  During her visit, Ferriter also conducted 
training with Egyptian design examiners in the commercial 
registry office and met with patent office officials 
regarding Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) minimum 
documentation issues. 
 
--------------------------- 
PHARMACEUTICAL IPR CONCERNS 
--------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) Hesham Ragheb, senior legal advisor in the Ministry 
of Trade and Industry, organized a group of GOE experts 
including Mokhtar Warida, senior advisor to the Minister of 
Health (MOH); two MOH advisory committee experts, Bahaa Fayz 
and Fawzy el-Refai; Sherif Hashem, senior official in the 
Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA); 
and commercial registry, copyright office, foreign commercial 
service, and other GOE agencies related to IPR. 
 
¶4.  (U) Warida stated that the World Trade Organization's 
TRIPS Council had ruled that Egypt's 2002 law on intellectual 
property rights is compliant with the GOE's TRIPS 
obligations.  Egypt will protect any confidential 
pharmaceutical test data it requires companies to submit as 
part of their applications for marketing approval of their 
products, he said, adding that he believed no companies have 
complained about unauthorized use of their data. 
 
¶5.  (U) Ferriter responded that even if the text of the GOE's 
IPR law is considered TRIPS compliant, the GOE's 
implementation falls short of its obligations. She cited the 
GOE practice of requiring companies to assert they are not 
submitting confidential test data as part of their 
application, while at the same time admittedly relying on FDA 
certificates for marketing approval.  The GOE should uphold 
the TRIPS principle that companies that invest in 
pharmaceutical research should be compensated for their 
investment in research for safety and efficacy 
investigations, she said.  She added that reliance only on 
published summary safety and efficacy data and FDA approval 
certificates violates this principle. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Groves commented that this GOE practice was a 
"clever way of getting around the obligation" to protect test 
data. (NOTE: This is a potential problem because generic drug 
companies could win GOE marketing approval for their products 
by relying on the innovator's FDA approval during the data 
protection period without the innovator's permission. END 
NOTE.) Egypt's interpretation of its obligations is isolated 
in the international community, she said.  Warida responded 
that there is no international consensus on how to interpret 
these obligations.  He also said the data protection 
obligations in TRIPS may be interpreted different ways and 
noted that the GOE considers the US data exclusivity system 
to be "TRIPS Plus," or exceeding Egypt's TRIPS obligations. 
 
------------------------------ 
COPYRIGHT ENFORCEMENT CONCERNS 
------------------------------ 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Regarding enforcement of IPR for software, Hashem 
said that ITIDA is responsible for keeping pirated functional 
computer software out of the Egyptian market, but that the 
Ministry of Culture is responsible for IPR enforcement for 
copyright-protected non-functional content of optical discs 
such as pirated music and movies.  Both agencies would have 
IPR enforcement responsibility for software products that 
include both functional content and non-functional content 
such as music or movies, he said.  (COMMENT: This was 
disappointing and in contrast to our previous understanding 
of a 2006 prime ministerial decree that gave ITIDA exclusive 
authority over all "computer works (software and database)." 
ITIDA officials had said that based on the decree, they 
expected to exclusively enforce all optical disc piracy. 
ITIDA has been much more assertive in promoting IPR 
awareness, while the Ministry of Culture has a long record of 
poor IPR enforcement. END COMMENT.) 
 
¶8. (U) The GOE experts did not dispute Groves' assertion of 
widespread pirating of university textbooks, such as an 
estimate by the International Intellectual Property 
Association that 90 percent of Egyptian medical textbooks are 
pirated.  In fact, several of the experts were professors and 
noted that they write textbooks and personally appreciate 
enforcement of IPR in this area.  Groves called for more GOE 
investigations, arrests, and prosecutions of people involved 
in commercial-scale textbook piracy and for the GOE to order 
all universities to use legal textbooks.  They noted that the 
Ministry of Culture carries this responsibility. 
 
¶9.  (U) Hashem responded that textbook companies could help 
reduce pirating by offering discounts for legitimate 
products.  Microsoft successfully adopted a similar strategy 
to reduce the use of pirated versions of its software in 
government offices, he said. 
 
---------------------- 
POSITIVE COLLABORATION 
---------------------- 
 
¶10.  (U) While expressing concern about software enforcement 
issues, Groves noted the positive consultations USTR has had 
with ITIDA in Washington, USAID support of judicial training, 
and ITIDA's support for several cyber crime and IPR 
enforcement conferences that include USG experts. 
 
¶11.  (U) During the meeting, both sides agreed to future DVCs 
with their experts.  The first of which would focus on 
pharmaceutical concerns, followed by a DVC on copyright 
enforcement concerns. 
 
12  (SBU) COMMENT: While the meeting demonstrated a sincere 
interest by the GOE in engaging on IPR issues, it also 
demonstrated clearly that stark differences separate the USG 
and GOE on adequate pharmaceutical data protection and that 
other concerns remain in the Special 301 Initiative Action 
Plan.  We hope to narrow these differences during the DVCs 
and Minister of Health Gabali's upcoming visit to Washington. 
 END COMMENT. 
RICCIARDONE