VZCZCXRO0371
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHTL #0113/01 0801201
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 201201Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY TALLINN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0563
INFO RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 2586
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 TALLINN 000113 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/NB KATHERINE GARRY 
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO USTR FOR LMOLNAR 
DHS FOR ICE AND CBP 
HELSINKI FOR JANE MESSENGER 
DOC FOR ITA/MAC/OIPR CASSIE PETERS AND ITA LEAH MARKOWITZ 
DOC PLEASE PASS USPTO 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD KIPR ECON EUR EN
SUBJECT: ESTONIAN CUSTOMS CONFERENCE: ENFORCING IPR AT THE 
BORDER 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: A seminar sponsored by the U.S. Patent 
and Trademark Office (USPTO) and Embassy Tallinn brought 
together Estonian, Finnish and U.S. customs inspectors in 
the city of Narva, on the Russian border, for two days of 
discussion on intellectual property rights (IPR) and border 
enforcement.  Participants heard from the Ambassador and 
key local leaders about the importance of IPR protection 
for innovation.  Speakers displayed samples of seized 
counterfeit and copyright infringing goods, discussed risk 
identifiers for suspect shipping, and led the participants 
in panel discussions and case studies of IPR infringement 
scenarios.  The event received press coverage from national 
TV as well as newspapers in Tallinn and Narva both in 
Estonian and Russian, and supported Tallinn's MSP goal of 
promoting economic growth and prosperity.  Russian Customs 
officials were invited, but did not attend.  End Summary. 
 
If You Can Make It, They Can Fake It 
 
¶2. (U) On March 11-12, the USPTO and Embassy hosted an IPR 
border enforcement seminar for over 40 Estonian customs and 
border inspectors.  This year's conference, the third 
funded and supported by the USPTO in Estonia since 2006, 
was held in the Estonia's eastern city of Narva.   As the 
easternmost checkpoint in or out of the European Union 
(EU), Narva was an ideal location, as Estonia seeks a 
greater share of international trade into the EU from the 
Far East.  Experts from the Department of Homeland 
Security, Customs and Border Protection (DHS/CBP), DHS 
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Finnish 
National Board of Customs, and the Estonian Tax and Customs 
Board showed numerous samples of seized pharmaceuticals, 
fashion accessories, clothing, etc.   While counterfeiters 
once concentrated almost exclusively on high-end luxury 
goods, today's makers of bootleg products produce anything 
and everything they can make a profit on.  Samples included 
fishing rods, perfumes, energy drinks, cigarettes and 
branded lighters, light switches, circuit breakers, 
batteries, cellular phone parts, toothbrushes, toys of all 
descriptions, slippers, track suits, and all manner of 
other garments ... you name it.  U.S. Customs officials 
estimated that over 80 percent of the counterfeit goods 
they seize originate in China. 
 
¶3. (U) Senior officials from Finland's National Board of 
Customs and the port of Kotka outlined many of the risk 
indicators they look for both from shipping and labeling 
patterns.  (Note: They estimate that 600,000 containers 
transit the Kotka port each year, or roughly 30% of all 
goods passing into Russia.  End Note.) Red flags during 
examination of paperwork include: inconsistencies in bills 
of lading, suspect senders, brokers or receivers, 
suspicious routes (especially via Dubai), undervaluation of 
merchandise, and other indicators. 
 
¶4. (U) Finnish Customs also outlined indicators they focus 
on during physical inspection, include co-mingling of 
different brands shipped in the same container, spelling 
mistakes on packaging, mismatched labeling or product 
sizes, luxury products of poor quality, and many other 
identifiers that tip off seasoned inspectors.  One amusing 
case involved a shipment of over 54,000 units of empty tin 
cases for Cognac.  The shipment was transiting Finland en 
route to Russia from China, in violation of geographical 
indicator (GI) rights.  DHS/CBP and DHS/ICE confirmed that 
they look for many of the same risk indicators when 
inspecting shipments. 
 
Working with Rights Holders, and Border Inspection Tour 
 
¶5. (U) Speakers from all three countries said they will 
typically send digital photographs of seized goods to 
legitimate rights holders for expert analysis of the 
workmanship and labeling of the product.  Goods confirmed 
to be counterfeit are destroyed, and fines may be assessed. 
All stressed that close cooperation with rights holders was 
essential, especially in identifying rare or technical 
goods, and very high-quality fakes.  In one key difference, 
however, DHS/CBP itself makes the final determination of IP 
infringement by an importer, whereas in Estonia, customs 
officials depend heavily upon the rights holder to make the 
 
TALLINN 00000113  002 OF 003 
 
 
actual determination that an IP rights infringement has 
occurred.  At this point, Estonian customs will refer the 
case to investigators, who in turn will refer the case to 
prosecutors if necessary. (Note: Estonian Customs' 
dependence on right holders is due to limited cooperation 
between them.  Industry considers the Estonian market 
insignificant, and that small quantities of counterfeit 
goods do not pose a major economic loss for them.  In the 
rare cases that industry makes the effort to provide expert 
opinion, Estonian Customs is inclined to give heavy weight 
to it.  End Note.) 
 
¶6.  (U) In keynote remarks at the conclusion of day one of 
the seminar, the Ambassador noted the vital role that 
trademark and copyright protection has in spurring 
innovation, and adding value to the economy.  The Finnish 
Ambassador, Jakko Kalela, echoed these remarks, as did the 
Mayor of Narva, and an Estonian Member of Parliament (MP) 
who serves on the Economic Affairs Committee with 
responsibility for IPR issues. 
 
¶7. (U) The presenters shared best practices based upon 
their collective experience examining import shipments, 
working with reputable and suspect shippers, and 
identifying risk patterns in trade.  The Estonian 
participants clearly demonstrated that they are seeing many 
of the same tricks by illegal importers, and have developed 
similar techniques for countering trademark violations, 
even though their market is much smaller than neighboring 
Finland and Russia. 
 
¶8. (U) Day two of the conference began with a tour of the 
Narva Customs and Border Control checkpoint.  Estonian 
Customs showed all participants their checkpoints for 
pedestrians, private vehicles and commercial trucks, 
including radiation detectors, vehicle x-rays, and short- 
term warehousing and cold storage for goods seized pending 
final disposition.  Panelists followed this tour with 
sessions on copyright issues.  All participants noted the 
decrease of pirated copyright materials crossing borders, 
due largely to the fact that pirated materials have moved 
to the Internet.  Also, Finland's 'zero tolerance policy' 
has almost wiped out Estonian production of bootleg CDs and 
DVDs for 'suitcase pirates', as the policy makes owning 
even one copy of pirated materials a crime.  In Estonia, 
all copyright materials seized by Customs are examined by 
the Estonian Organization for Copyright Protection (EOCP) 
which represents right holders. The cooperation between 
Customs and EOCP serves as a model also for trademark right 
holders. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) In cooperation with Embassy Moscow and the 
Russian Embassy in Tallinn, Embassy invited Russian customs 
officials to participate in the conference and USPTO 
offered to pay all expenses for their participation. 
Unfortunately, Russian Customs declined to send any 
representatives to the conference.  The Russian Consul 
General in Narva, however, appeared at the opening of the 
conference and the welcome dinner, and noted that Customs 
inspectors from Ivangorod - the Russian border point across 
the Narva river - would have liked to participate.  All 
participants said that Russian Customs Officials could have 
greatly contributed to the information exchange, had they 
been present. 
 
¶10. (U) Comment: DHS/CBP and ICE confirmed that our 
Estonian colleagues' technology and risk analysis for 
inspecting goods for import or transit are very much on par 
with U.S. standards.  The seminar allowed over 40 
inspectors from all four regions of Estonia to exchange 
best practices with their Finnish and U.S counterparts. 
The training indicated the need for closer international 
cooperation between Customs Agencies, especially in light 
of the rising tide of imports and transit goods - 
legitimate and counterfeit alike - from China.  In written 
evaluations, participants rated the panel discussions and 
cases studies very highly.  End Comment. 
 
¶11.  (U) Post would especially like to thank Embassy 
Helsinki and Embassy Moscow for their assistance organizing 
this conference. 
 
TALLINN 00000113  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶12. (U) This cable was cleared by USPTO and DHS. 
 
PHILLIPS