VZCZCXRO4971
OO RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHTH #0315/01 0641755
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 041755Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ATHENS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1355
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHIK/AMCONSUL THESSALONIKI 1815
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 ATHENS 000315 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SE - IGOODMAN, GCOWAN 
DEPT FOR EEB/TPP/IPE - JURBAN, RWALLACE 
DEPT PASS TO USTR - LESLIE YANG 
DEPT PASS TO USDOC - KRISTIN NAJDI 
DEPT PASS TO USPTO - MICHAEL SMITH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD GR KIPR
SUBJECT: 2008 SPECIAL 301 REVIEW - GREECE 
 
REF:  A.  FROWICK-COWAN EMAIL 12/20/07 
      ¶B.  ATHENS 2393 (2007) 
 
ATHENS 00000315  001.2 OF 006 
 
 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) IPR developments in Greece in 2007 paint a very 
complex picture.  On the one hand, cooperation between the 
GOG and industry remained strong, and the GOG continued to 
say all the right things regarding IPR issues and appeared 
to want to do the right thing.  Most impressively, positive 
IPR forces within the government (particularly OPI and 
YPEE) continued to make steady progress in laying the 
groundwork necessary to begin transforming public opinion 
on IPR issues - the key to achieving substantive 
improvement in Greece's IPR regime.  Working towards this 
goal, the GOG developed and executed an impressive 
education and outreach plan that included programs for 
elementary and high school students, training seminars for 
police and customs officers, and public awareness campaigns 
aimed at the wider public, journalists, musicians, the 
legal community, and small and medium enterprises.  These 
actions, while reaping little immediate impact, will 
ultimately be the most useful in sensitizing the public to 
IPR issues and in dealing a blow to IPR violations in 
Greece. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Summary continued.  On the other hand, the GOG's 
efforts on the important goal of enforcement complicated 
the picture.  While the government's actions reflect some 
positive developments which have laid the groundwork for 
long-term gains in the enforcement area, they also expose 
further challenges, particularly in the short term. 
Positive developments that have laid the groundwork for 
future gains include: 
-- Passage of two IPR regulations, one on administrative 
fines and another on seizures and confiscations; 
-- A Christmas season raid/seizure campaign; and 
-- Three waves of software audit letters to private 
companies. 
 
Continued challenges in the near term include: 
-- Limited enforcement of the two new IPR regulations 
(regarding administrative fines and seizures); 
-- Too few prosecutions and convictions and non-application 
of deterrent penalties; 
-- Limited coordination by GOG IPR forces; and 
-- No formalization of two task forces or an inter- 
ministerial committee to help coordinate IPR actions.  End 
Summary. 
 
 
The Long-term: Progress on the 2007 Action Plan 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) As part of the 2007 Special 301 process, an 
Action Plan that was later included in the "Special 301 
Initiative" was prescribed by USG interagency participants 
for Greece.  The GOG's progress on this plan reflects steps 
taken towards achieving the long-term goal of winning the 
battle against IPR violations.  The following developments 
have laid the groundwork for further gains: 
 
-- Education/Outreach: The star of the GOG's IPR efforts, 
the Hellenic Copyright Office (OPI), continued to engage in 
a wide variety of outreach and educational activities in 
2007 and has shared a comprehensive list of its activities 
with us (see ref a).  Highlights include educational 
programs in elementary school and high school; seminars for 
the training of police officers and customs officers; the 
preparation of copyright manuals for police and customs 
officers; a public awareness campaign launched during the 
summer in order to deter the public from buying 
counterfeited and pirated CDs and DVDs; preparation of a 
website dedicated to IPR issues; and several coordinating 
meetings with various GOG ministries to further actions in 
the IPR area and to improve enforcement.  OPI, working with 
the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. Patent and Trade Office 
(USPTO) has scheduled a 26-27 June IPR conference to help 
educate government officials and others on various IPR 
issues, including stakeholder rights.  OPI is also 
considering a suggestion by the USPTO and the Embassy to 
 
ATHENS 00000315  002.2 OF 006 
 
 
host a roundtable on IPR issues for judges.  Efforts like 
this will ultimately prove the most useful in the long run 
in changing Greek attitudes towards IPR issues. 
 
-- 2007 Copyright Law Amendment: Law 3524 amended the 
Copyright Law to give copyright infringers the option of 
paying an administrative fine in lieu of criminal 
prosecution.  The amendment provides that street vendors 
caught in possession of up to 500 music CDs and up to 50 
software CDs shall be given the opportunity to pay an 
administrative fine of 20 euros for each music CD and 1,000 
euros for each software CD, but the total administrative 
fine shall not be less than 1,000 euros.  If vendors opt 
instead to go to Court, the expectation is that judges will 
impose harsher sentences, seeing that defendants had passed 
on the opportunity to merely pay a fine.  The Ministries of 
Finance and Culture issued implementing procedures for 
imposing the administrative fines in September.  Over time, 
enforcement of this regulation should help decrease piracy 
in Greece.  Industry has been supportive of the amendment, 
hoping it will increase the costs of pirating. 
 
-- Ministerial Decree No. K1-1178: This decree was signed 
on June 25, 2007.  It was intended to help remove street 
vendors from the streets by empowering the municipal 
police, the tax police (YPEE) and the national police to 
confiscate and destroy publicly all items protected under 
the current IPR legislation when sold in the streets by 
street vendors.  Just as with the administrative fines 
regulation above, the Embassy and industry have hoped 
enforcement of this decree would help to decrease the 
incidence of piracy in Greece. 
 
-- Christmas Season Raid/Seizure Campaign: According to the 
head of the special tax police (YPEE), Spyros Kladas, the 
GOG launched a program to sweep Athens's streets of 
contraband.  Twenty seven-person teams consisting of YPEE, 
national police and Athens municipal police hit the streets 
each day between December 19 and January 15, targeting 
those areas where the problem was most acute.  Industry 
representatives, however, reported that the raids and 
seizures were not as effective as had been hoped. 
According to industry reps, the campaign did not 
specifically crack down on CDs or DVDs, but rather on 
luxury goods (i.e. handbags, etc.).  Over time, more raids 
like these will help to bring down piracy violations. 
 
-- Software Audit Letters: In one of the brightest spots in 
Greece's IPR scene, YPEE has sent out three waves of 
letters to private businesses requesting information on 
business software usage and requesting copies of software 
licenses: the first wave was sent to companies with 50 or 
more employees in 2006; the second wave of 1,060 letters 
was sent to companies with 40-49 employees in 2007; and a 
third wave of 2,303 letters were sent to companies with 25- 
39 employees in 2007.  BSA credits these letters and 
publication of these letters on YPEE's website with helping 
to lead to a reduction in the business software's piracy 
rate from 61 percent in 2006 to 59 percent in 2007.  YPEE 
had also promised to begin following up on these letters 
with audits or interviews (in addition to the 40 interviews 
conducted last year).  YPEE was to have conducted 
approximately 260 audits between the January-April 2008 
timeframe; however, to date, none of these audits have 
taken place.  These audits are imperative to help enforce 
the anti-piracy intent of the letters.  BSA is still 
optimistic that YPEE will be able to conduct 50 audits by 
April, and that these audits (and publication of these 
raids) will lead to another decrease in the rate of 
business software piracy in 2008 and in the future. 
 
-- Speaking to the high level of cooperation between the 
GOG and industry, BSA organized a seminar at YPEE premises 
in order to train YPEE auditors on how to track illegal 
software and update their knowledge in software cases.  BSA 
has also offered up BSA staff for use in YPEE business 
software audits/raids.  Over time, cooperation on efforts 
like this should help to contain software piracy. 
 
-- Internet Piracy: At the request of industry, OPI has 
started a process by which a Memorandum of Understanding 
may be reached between rights holders and ISPs regarding 
intellectual property issues and the Internet. 
 
ATHENS 00000315  003.2 OF 006 
 
 
 
Short-Term Obstacles and Challenges: IPR Enforcement on the 
Street and in the Courts 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Despite these positive developments and active 
cooperation by OPI and YPEE with the industry and the 
Embassy, the GOG as a whole currently does not adequately 
or effectively enforce IPR legislation.  Enforcement on the 
street of the two new regulations (one implementing 
administrative fines and the other mandating confiscations 
and seizures) and successful prosecutions (with the 
application of deterrent penalties) by the courts remain 
the weakest links in the short term to winning the IPR 
battle. 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Street Enforcement of the two new IPR regulations 
remains limited for reasons specified below: 
 
-- Administrative Fine Regulation:  Tax police and the 
national police claim the new regulation is too complex to 
implement absent issuance of explanatory circulars.  The 
industry disagrees with the police assertion, claiming it 
is an excuse for inaction.  Whatever the truth, the result 
is limited enforcement of this important piece of IPR 
legislation.  On the limited occasions the regulation is 
enforced, enforcement is complicated by a structural 
deficiency: because it does not cover contraband DVDs (at 
the insistence of the industry), any vendor caught selling 
DVDs must face a judge.  If vendors carry only CDs, they 
are given a choice to pay a fine or go to court (where the 
industry expects judicial sentences will be truly punitive 
since judges will be apprised of the defendant's waiver of 
the option to pay a fine).  If, however, a vendor carries 
any DVDs, no choice is given, and judges do not factor in 
their sentencing decisions a waived fine.  Since the public 
perception is that the Greek court system is extremely 
backed up and that judges do not accord a high priority to 
IPR cases, vendors reportedly choose to take their chances 
in court rather than pay a fine.  According to the industry 
and the police, most vendors now ensure they are carrying 
DVDs in the hopes of lessening any eventual sentence. 
 
-- Ministerial Decree on Street Vendors:  Industry 
representatives claim the police can begin enforcing this 
decree without further bureaucratic processing, but 
enforcement does not occur.  Due to limitations of the 
municipal police (they do not carry weapons and do not have 
the authority to make arrests) and the fact that 
confrontations with street vendors can turn violent, 
practical enforcement of this regulation requires 
coordination between municipal authorities and the two 
national government law enforcement branches - the tax 
police and the national police.  The municipal police have 
requested armed police assistance, but thus far, joint 
raids only occur under limited circumstances (i.e. the 
Christmas raids referenced above).  The decree also calls 
for public destruction of the confiscated contraband, but 
due to bureaucratic infighting and inertia, the inter- 
ministerial committee that must be created to implement 
destruction procedures has not been created. 
 
-- Cooperation between the different branches of the police 
and the ministries under which they belong is crucial to 
effective enforcement of the two new regulations above, as 
well as other IPR legislation.  The Embassy and Consul 
General have tried bringing together OPI, YPEE, the 
national and municipal police, and the industry to improve 
coordination and cooperation and to iron out a formal 
agreement.  The deputy mayor of Athens told the Embassy in 
September (see reftel b) that he was attempting to revive 
an MOU on cooperation that had been agreed between the 
municipal police in Athens and the national police during 
the Olympics.  This, however, has not yet occurred. 
Coordinated actions by different branches of the police 
continue to be focused around campaigns such as that 
launched during the Christmas season. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Enforcement in the Courts:  Prosecution of IPR 
cases remains problematic.  Prosecutors are often 
overworked, and the court system itself is over-burdened, 
as publicly acknowledged by the Minister of Justice 
 
ATHENS 00000315  004.2 OF 006 
 
 
himself.  With requests for postponements, appeals and 
other motions, it can be 2 to 3 years before a criminal IPR 
case (with the exception of the special IPR courts in 
Athens and Thessaloniki, most Greek IPR cases are 
prosecuted in criminal courts) is finally heard and 
judgment rendered.  Even when a judgment is finally 
granted, judges frequently appear to view IPR violations as 
"nuisance crimes," and use the tremendous discretion 
granted to them under the law to provide for minimal fines 
and suspended jail sentences.  According to EPOE (the Greek 
branch of the MPAA), of 250 criminal IPR convictions from 
2005-2007, only three resulted in any time served.  On a 
positive note, the industry informs us that some courts, 
particularly those in Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki, are 
no longer suspending fines.  While training and educational 
efforts by OPI are helpful, more needs to be done to 
sensitize the judiciary to IPR issues and to ensure 
enforcement of IPR legislation in the courts through 
application of deterrent penalties.  Given the historical 
factors that guarantee the Greek judiciary independence, 
this effort will be a lengthy process. 
 
Short-term Obstacles and Challenges: Government Cooperation 
-- Task Forces and an Inter-Ministerial Committee 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶7.   (SBU) Established under OPI in 2006, the Athens Task 
Force has been working for over one year.  The group 
includes representatives from the various Greek Departments 
and Ministries engaged in some aspect of IPR, as well as 
industry reps.  While the Task Force met several times in 
2007, because it meets on an ad hoc basis, does not have a 
dedicated staff and does not have a leader empowered with 
tasking people/agencies and accountable to leaders for 
delivering results, its meetings seldom result in concrete 
actions that lead to measurable improvements in the IPR 
situation.  At a recent informal task force meeting 
convened in Thessaloniki by a prosecutor, local 
representatives of the Hellenic police, municipal police, 
YPEE and other law enforcement agencies made clear they 
considered IPR enforcement not only a low priority, but too 
difficult, too time-consuming and politically risky given 
the lack of public support.  The industries believe the 
Athens Task Force and the dormant Thessaloniki Task Force 
should be formalized (complete with defined leadership and 
dedicated staff) as soon as possible.  Post agrees, and 
believes that action in the immediate short-term action on 
these task forces, particularly if they are formalized at a 
policy and decision-making level (i.e., secretary general), 
can help work through some of the longer-term coordination 
and bureaucratic infighting issues and help to overcome 
inertia. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) MFA IPR Counselor Marina Hondropoulou has told 
Post several times over the past year that the GOG is 
discussing the creation of an inter-ministerial committee 
on IPR issues staffed at the secretary general level.  In a 
meeting on February 28 with the acting economic deputy, 
Hondropoulou showed a copy of the pending decision to form 
this committee and indicated the order would be finalized 
and the committee created by World Intellectual Property 
Day in April.  [Comment: If in fact this committee is 
formed and begins to meet in the near future, this will 
represent a major step forward in the GOG's ability to 
coordinate its efforts and hence gain traction on longer- 
term IPR issues.  End Comment.] 
 
Border Enforcement 
------------------ 
 
¶9.  (SBU) While Greece is not known to be a major producer 
or exporter of counterfeit goods, Greece does have porous 
borders and inadequate border and customs control.  As a 
result, and as a Schengen member, Greece appears to be a 
favored port of entry for counterfeit goods to enter the 
EU.  A percentage of these counterfeit goods are sold in 
the local economy, but the majority is destined for more 
lucrative markets in Germany and France.  The GOG has 
established an informal working group on customs issues 
that includes representatives from the Embassy, the 
Ministry of the Economy and the Hellenic Customs Service. 
This working group appears to be dormant at this time.  In 
addition, industry informs us that in the past year, no 
 
ATHENS 00000315  005.2 OF 006 
 
 
significant seizures appear to have been made by the 
customs authorities. 
 
Use/Procurement of Government Software 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) The GOG officially requires that all software in 
use by the official agencies/ministries be properly 
licensed.  According to government officials, the Ministry 
of the Interior has actively highlighted these requirements 
through all levels of government, although Post is not 
aware of any specific enforcement activities taking place. 
Allegations continue that government offices turn a blind 
eye to internal piracy (usually the installation of a 
single licensed program on multiple machines).  There was, 
however, a promising breakthrough with Microsoft in 2007. 
Microsoft opened a Center for Innovation in Greece, and 
also signed an agreement with the government for the 
legalization of its products used in government ministries. 
It is not yet clear if this will help to lower incidents of 
copyright infringement by the government for other software 
companies, but it bodes well for Microsoft's products. 
 
Internet Piracy: The Preeminent Danger for the Future 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Internet piracy is still in its nascent stages 
in Greece.  Peer-to-peer (P2P) piracy has not yet 
infiltrated the Greek markets.  According to the industry 
reps, there are approximately 3.8 million internet users in 
Greece, representing about 35 percent of the population. 
The growth potential is enormous, and industry reps warn 
that unless an adequate enforcement regime is put in place 
as soon as possible, the battle of Internet piracy in 
Greece will be lost before it begins.  There is a 
legislative deficiency involving Internet piracy: Greek 
legislation prevents ISPs from disclosing information about 
their subscribers' names or physical addresses in order for 
rights holders to continue investigations and pursue legal 
actions against suspected infringers.  While, as mentioned 
above, OPI has convened a meeting between ISPs and right 
holders to begin to discuss moving forward on an MOU, 
progress seems slow, no target has been established, and 
industry doubts whether an MOU will be honored by ISPs 
absent legislative action.  A legislative committee charged 
with, among other issues, amending the copyright law to 
allow for the disclosure of this information to rights 
holders appears to be mired in discussions of a complete 
(and perhaps unnecessary) overhaul of the copyright law. 
 
Statistics 
---------- 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Reflective of the diffuse organization of IPR 
enforcement in Greece, there does not appear to be one 
single source of official, IPR-related statistics.  This 
further complicates Post's assessment of the IPR picture in 
Greece.  While EPOE has provided the Embassy with 
statistics related to their industry on court appearances, 
convictions and sentences, and the International Federation 
of Phonographic Industries (IFPI) local representatives 
have provided some statistics on their organization's 
confiscations, the government does not appear to keep one 
consolidated set of statistics.  OPI efforts to develop and 
maintain a statistical database (see reftel b) continue to 
languish as a result of limited capacity by the key 
enforcement entities (i.e. the police, customs) to track 
and transmit data on a regular basis.  While it has the 
desire, OPI lacks the resources to be able to administer 
this database over the long term without more resources or 
substantial cooperation by other parts of the government. 
For the time being, development of this database has been 
put on hold. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶13.  (SBU) Post reiterates that IPR developments in Greece 
in 2007 paint a very complex picture, with strong GOG 
actions in the area of public education and awareness and 
continued challenges in the areas of enforcement and 
government coordination.  The Greek public has a very 
limited appreciation for or understanding of IPR, does not 
 
ATHENS 00000315  006.2 OF 006 
 
 
generally see the issue as a criminal act, and does not 
widely support active IPR enforcement.  Limited 
enforcement, including limited application of the two IPR 
regulations, too few prosecutions and judicial reluctance 
to apply maximum sentences, is a reflection of Greek 
society's views on the issue rather than an aberration.  In 
this context, educational efforts are the key to 
transforming the public's views and to winning the IPR 
battle in the long run.  That said, there is room for more 
improvement in current enforcement efforts as educational 
efforts are not likely to improve the IPR situation in 
Greece in the near term.  While the GOG has laid some of 
the groundwork for future gains in the area of enforcement, 
further coordinated actions by the GOG are needed in order 
to achieve progress (including curtailing internet piracy 
while still in its infancy, containing street piracy 
through the implementation and enforcement of the two new 
IPR regulations, and increasing court prosecutions and 
application of appropriate deterrent penalties). 
 
¶14.  (SBU) Comment Continued.  Knowing the Special 301 
timeline, the Greek MFA today requested an opportunity to 
brief the Embassy on new GOG IPR-related initiatives.  The 
DCM and the head of the MFA Americas Directorate will meet 
on Friday, March 7 to discuss these new initiatives.  End 
Comment. 
 
SPECKHARD