VZCZCXRO1055
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHTH #1360/01 2690412
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 250412Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY ATHENS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2546
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHIK/AMCONSUL THESSALONIKI 1948

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ATHENS 001360 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SE - IGOODMAN 
DEPT FOR EEB/TPP/IPE - JURBAN 
DEPT PASS TO USDOC - HILLEARY SMITH 
DEPT PASS TO USTR - LESLIE YANG 
DEPT PASS TO USPTO - MSMITH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR GR PREL
SUBJECT: GREECE AND IPR - VISIT BY USDOC 
 
REF: ATHENS 001350 
 
ATHENS 00001360  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) The GoG and Greek industry IPR representatives 
painted a complex picture of GoG progress on IPR, 
illustrating mild improvements, following Greece's listing on 
the 2008 Special 301 Watch List.  During the September 8-10 
visit of Department of Commerce Hilleary Smith, government 
representatives from the MFA, the Hellenic Copyright Office 
(OPI), and the Special Tax Police (YPEE) highlighted the 
newly-formed Inter-Ministerial Committee as key to developing 
and implementing initiatives targeted to improve its record 
on IPR issues.  Separately, industry representatives cited a 
slow pace of reforms and continued lack of concrete 
enforcement actions as hindering progress.  End Summary. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
Meeting With MFA: Getting the GoG on Board 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) Greg Vassilokonstandakis, Director of the MFA,s 
Division for North America and Christina Argiropoulou, Second 
Secretary in the MFA,s General Secretariat for Economic and 
Commercial Affairs, briefed Smith on the status of the GoG,s 
Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on IPR issues on September 
¶8.  (Note:  Created in April by an MFA decree, the IMC is 
chaired by the Secretary General of the MFA,s General 
Secretariat for Economic and Commercial Affairs and includes 
members at the SecGen level from the Ministries of 
Development, Culture, Interior, Justice, Customs, and 
Finance.  According to the GoG, the IMC will coordinate the 
GoG,s efforts on all IPR issues, including enforcement.  End 
Note.)  Vassilokonstandakis said the IMC has met twice since 
April and will meet once again before year-end.  He explained 
that these meetings will be prepared by new working groups 
tasked with developing a work plan, making proposals to the 
IMC, and reporting back to the IMC.  (Note: For additional 
details, see ATHENS 001350 on meeting between DCM and MFA 
SecGen Skylakakis.  End Note.) 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The working groups, according to Argiropoulou, will 
meet in September.  The first working group will be tactical 
and focus on improving statistics, educating judges on the 
importance of enforcement actions, and sensitizing the public 
to IPR issues.  While the second working group was not 
addressed during the meeting, Argiropoulou has previously 
indicated to A/DepEcon that it will focus on studying Greek 
laws and regulations to see if any changes need to be made in 
order to improve IPR protection and enforcement. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Vassilokonstandakis briefly touched on the Special 
301 Initiative, and indicated that the GoG would be happy to 
have increased engagement with the USG on IPR issues.  In 
subsequent conversations, Argiropoulou indicated that the 
Special 301 Initiative measures would be given to the IMC for 
their consideration, along with measures passed to the GoG by 
industry.  She did not commit the GoG to taking all the 
Special 301 measures on board, and said that it would have 
been more helpful to have the USG spell out its areas of 
priority, rather than specific measures.  She also questioned 
what "increased engagement" meant, and indicated that too 
much engagement with the USG risked distracting the IMC from 
its agenda. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
Meeting with Business Software Alliance 
(BSA): More Publicity Needed 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) On September 8, Business Software Alliance (BSA) 
Member Archontoula Papapanagiotou briefed Smith on the status 
of software piracy issues in Greece.  Papapanagiotou reported 
that cooperation efforts between BSA and the tax police 
generally were going well; however, she outlined several 
additional steps that the GoG must take to reduce the level 
of business software piracy in Greece. 
 
¶6. (SBU) First, Papapanagiotou emphasized that the tax police 
must send out the next wave of audit letters to over 3,000 
smaller companies of 15-19 people.  She stressed that the tax 
police must increase the number of controls (including 
audits) of companies. Companies fear YPEE audits, she said, 
 
ATHENS 00001360  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
since YPEE likely would extend its audit beyond the software 
license issue to the company,s entire balance book. 
Therefore, the possibility of an YPEE raid or audit, she 
explained, will force companies to take the licensing issue 
seriously.  Law enforcement on this issue has no teeth, 
Papapanagiotou complained, particularly as offenders are not 
brought to trial and prosecuted.  (Comment:  This is a 
critique directed towards a lack of political will on this 
issue and lack of effectiveness and expediency of the court 
system in Greece. End Comment.)  Lastly, Papapanagiotou 
underlined that the tax police should move to publicize 
statistics of their process on their website. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Papapanagiotou also highlighted the industry,s 
growing concern over internet piracy. (Note: Greece has a 
very low internet penetration rate of only 11.15 percent of 
the population; however, this rate reflects almost a 70 
percent increase over the prior year.  As a result, internet 
piracy can become a large problem if it is not addressed at 
this early stage of Greece's internet growth.  End Note.) 
She and other industry representatives believe Greece needs 
an amendment to the personal data protection law, which 
presently prohibits the gathering of information on its 
citizens, even if they are illegally downloading software or 
other copyrighted materials.   Internet Service Providers 
(ISPs) are not allowed to disclose the names of companies or 
sites that are using software without the appropriate 
license.  (Note:  Although the GoG has privacy laws similar 
to the US, these laws may be considered even more restrictive 
than the US in certain circumstances.  European Union Data 
Protection Directive (EUDPD) requires that all EU members 
adopt national regulations to standardize the protection of 
data privacy for citizens throughout the EU.  While the GoG 
recognizes that piracy over the internet is a prominent and 
burgeoning concern, there is tension between the desire to 
enforce IPR and the desire to protect the rights of the 
individual.  While many EU countries are struggling with this 
same issue, sensitivity in Greece is acute due to Greek 
historical experience during the years of military rule under 
the Junta. End Note.) 
 
------------------------------------- 
Meeting with IFPI: Show us the Money! 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) In a meeting on September 9, the Association of 
Greek Producers of Phonograms, (IFPI) Irene Tsiliri and 
Panos Theofanellis presented a pessimistic image of GoG 
efforts to stem piracy of CDs and DVDs, pointing to the Greek 
Ministry of Justice (MOJ) as the primary problem.  Although 
two warehouses were recently seized, Theofanellis said the 
MOJ,s new "strategy" of only pursuing large copying and 
distribution centers (warehouses) is insufficient.  Given the 
number of pirated goods and the proliferation of street 
vendors, he advocated a simultaneous focus on individual 
street vendors.  Court actions are also necessary, he 
explained, noting that apprehended street vendors often 
returned to the exact location where they were originally 
arrested, thumbing their noses at the police.  Moreover, due 
to technology gains, small apartments can be production sites 
for pirated DVDs and CDs, making it very difficult for 
authorities to find warehouse sites.  One of the most active 
groups in pirated material is the "Nigerian mafia" in Greece. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Moreover, IFPI takes a dim view of Greek recording 
artists, who hesitate to join the fight against the illegal 
distribution of their copyrighted material.  The artists are 
reluctant to cause problems with their fans and believe that 
wider distribution, albeit illegal, will increase their fan 
base.  Compounding these perceptions, Greek artists earn more 
money through performances than royalties from their music 
sales. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Theofanellis said the upcoming December IMC meeting 
would not be effective and lamented that industry was not 
kept informed and updated on these proposed meetings. 
Despite some limited progress through the creation of the IMC 
and cooperation between the tax police with both IFPI and 
BSA, Theofanellis reiterated that there is no political will 
to champion the protection of copyrighted material.  IFPI has 
joined with other industry representatives in Greece and 
presented the IMC with several written proposals without any 
feedback to date.  IFPI has also paid for television spots in 
order to try to raise public awareness of IPR issues. 
 
 
ATHENS 00001360  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
¶11. (SBU) Like BSA, Theofanellis also brought up the urgency 
for the GoG to amend the data protection law for ISPs. He 
stated that IFPI,s number one priority going forward will be 
on preventing internet piracy as Greeks begin o use this 
technology more and more. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
Hellenic Copyright Office (OPI): 
Maneuvering through reek sensitivities 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) OPI Director Irini Stamatoudi told Smith on 
September 9 that it is her strong belief that following the 
European Court of Justice,s decision on data protection, it 
would be very difficult for the GoG to proceed with a law 
that forces ISPs to disclose privacy data.  Stamatoudi 
believes that this decision gives member countries some 
limited discretion on how to address the disclosure of 
privacy data.  She noted that Greece is coming down on the 
side of protection of privacy data.  Stamatoudi indicated 
that Greece is trying to follow what she described as the 
French model, where the burden to crack down on internet 
piracy would be placed on ISPs, but admitted that the French 
model may not work in Greece. 
 
¶13. (SBU) For the first time since Greece was listed in the 
2008 Special 301 Report, Stamatoudi expressed indignation and 
frustration with the USG,s action and argued that this step 
has made it very difficult for OPI to continue to move 
forward on IPR issues.  She said Greece was unfairly listed 
and blamed inaccurate statistics from industry.  To solve 
this, she explained that the GoG will gather better 
statistics.  Stamatoudi stressed that OPI has gone out of its 
way to work with all industry representatives in Greece, but 
this cooperative relationship was in danger because these 
industries were not legally registered in Greece.  She said 
that OPI may choose to stop working with them until they 
register legally.  (Comment: Stamatoudi is normally very 
pleasant and quite reasonable to Embassy staff as well as 
industry representatives in Greece.  Her outburst against the 
Special 301 listing and industry registration was out of 
character and could be an indication that she is under 
pressure from elsewhere in the GoG to try to place pressure 
on industry.  End Comment.) 
 
----------------------------------------- 
Special Tax Police (YPEE): Solid Progress 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶14. (SBU) The new head of the Special Tax Police, Marios 
Tsakas, presented a very positive image of YPEE,s efforts to 
coP%Q!QQ Q)Q(BQA QB Q(% QSsue of software piracy.E,s letters or where the responses were incomplete or 
questionable.  He also said that YPEE has levied a number of 
fines against companies, and promised to give the Embassy 
statistics on the number of audits conducted and fines 
levied.  (Note:  In a subsequent visit, the YPEE presented a 
page of complete statistics on the audits by YPEE.  End 
Note.)  Finally, confirming information from BSA, Tsakas said 
YPEE was getting ready to launch a new wave of letters to 
smaller companies.  He also said YPEE would soon begin 
posting the statistics on their letter and audit campaign on 
YPEE's internet site. 
 
--------------------- 
Moving Forward on IPR 
--------------------- 
 
¶15. (SBU) Comment:  The creation of an inter-ministerial 
committee is a solid start to getting senior-level attention 
to the problem.  However, the GoG agrees that it take more 
concrete steps to show progress in the area of IPR. 
Particularly, it needs to get better statistics in the 
short-term and build a statistical database in the long-term. 
 Although OPI was recognized as a solid performer in the 301 
report, it has limited resources and educational and outreach 
efforts.  The GoG needs to simultaneously apply serious 
enforcement measures with the Ministry of Justice and 
Interior in order to bring about greater movement on this 
issue.  In a separate telephone conversation with 
 
ATHENS 00001360  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
Argiropoulou, A/DepEcon followed up on this linkage, noting 
that without concrete steps in the area of street and 
judicial enforcement, it will be very difficult to make a 
case for de-listing Greece this coming year. 
 
¶16.  (SBU) Another issue that GoG needs to address is the 
issue of closing down internet accounts that illegally 
download copyrighted material.  While Stamatoudi indicated 
the GoG is trying to help bring the different parties -- such 
as the ISPs and the content providers-- together to form an 
agreement, the GoG will need to bring more pressure to bear 
on ISPs and will need to visit the viability of amending its 
data privacy law.  End Comment. 
SPECKHARD