VZCZCXRO0936
PP RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHME #2774/01 2551721
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 111721Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3257
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO PRIORITY 0649
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 002774 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EB/TPP/MTA/IPE/WALLACE/URBAN 
STATE FOR WHA/MEX/WOLFSON 
STATE PASS USTR FOR MELLE/MCCOY/SHIGETOMI/BAE/GARDE 
JUSTICE FOR CCIPS/MERRIAM,KOUAME AND OPDAT/DELUIGI AND RAMOS 
COMMERCE FOR ITA/MAC/ONAFTA/WORD 
ITA/MAC/IPR/WILSON 
COMMERCE PASS USPTO FOR RODRIGUEZ/BERDUT/MORALES 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: KIPR SNAR MX
SUBJECT: IPR TRAINING FOR MEXICAN CUSTOMS AT MAZATLAN 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (U) The Embassy, together with the Departments of Justice and 
Homeland Security, held a three-day training seminar on detecting, 
detaining, and deterring the importation of pirated and counterfeit 
goods for Mexican customs and law enforcement officials at the 
Pacific Coast Port of Mazatlan from August 20 through 22.  The 
seminar was financed by DOJ grant money from State/INL.  The course 
focused on the importance of inter-agency cooperation in protecting 
intellectual property rights at the border and land and sea ports, 
and in following up seizures of infringing goods with appropriate 
administrative and criminal investigations.  An instructor from the 
World Customs Organization (WCO) led a discussion, describing the 
many resources it has available to track particular shipments and 
liaise with customs colleagues from other countries.  An additional 
and innovative component to this course was the participation of the 
private sector, coordinated by the American Chamber of Commerce of 
Mexico, which featured interactive expo stands from two dozen member 
companies that taught the participants how to detect pirated and 
infringing goods. The Mexican reaction to the course was very 
positive, and the Embassy plans to capitalize on this success and 
hold similar IPR customs trainings in other key Mexican ports.  End 
summary. 
 
 
Students and Instructors 
------------------------ 
 
¶2. (U) The August 20-22 seminar was attended by 50 Mexican customs 
officers, the largest audience we have ever had for these programs. 
The group included senior and entry-level officials from the major 
Mexican ports of Mazatlan, Manzanillo, Veracruz, Nuevo Laredo, 
Lazaro Cardenas, Cancun, Ensenada, Tijuana, from Customs 
headquarters in Mexico City, as well as the Office of Attorney 
General of the Republic (PGR - or the Mexican Department of Justice) 
and the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI - counterpart 
to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office). 
 
¶3. (U) USG course instructors consisted of an Assistant U.S. 
Attorney (AUSA) for the Central District of California with 
expertise in IP crimes (Craig Missakian), a DHS/CBP international 
trade specialist from the Los Angeles National Targeting and 
Analysis Center (Maria Trilevski), and two DHS/ICE agents - one from 
the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City (William Fernandez) and one from 
Phoenix, Arizona (Sergio Diaz).  DOJ also funded the participation 
of Ren Lobos, a Chilean customs official affiliated with the World 
Customs Organization. 
 
Seminar Program and Themes 
-------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) Day One of the seminar was dedicated to presentations on the 
importance of IPR.  The DOJ prosecutor outlined the importance of IP 
protection and enforcement (Note: Mexican Customs told ECONoffs this 
presentation was extremely useful since many of the young agents 
were new in their jobs and not familiar with basic IPR concepts. End 
note), followed by two roundtables featuring PGR and IMPI officials 
speaking on Mexican IPR law, as well as interactive sessions to 
explain PGR's and IMPI's respective roles in enforcing IPR at the 
border and the importance of cooperation with customs officials. 
These sessions focused on the nuts of bolts of container inspection 
and interagency cooperation, giving participants a clear 
understanding of the authority each agency has in Mexico and how 
they can cooperate and communicate among themselves and with the 
private sector.  Since Mexican customs can only hold suspect goods 
for a limited time on their own authority, the discussion revealed 
the importance of communicating effectively with IMPI (to find out 
whether the goods in question are pirated or counterfeit, and if so, 
to possibly have IMPI confiscate them) and the PGR, which has the 
power to initiate criminal investigations.  The day was also 
dedicated to discussing the evolving roles of the U.S. and Mexican 
customs agencies in protecting IPR.  ICE officials highlighted the 
importance of bilateral cooperation in investigating illegal 
shipments.  They also laid out a case study of how a Customs seizure 
led to an investigation that resulted in convictions and jail time 
for leaders of an organized crime syndicate.  Mexican customs shared 
with the audience some of their recent successful cases, especially 
in Manzanillo, due in part to the impact these types of trainings 
have had on the way they now monitor shipments. 
 
 
MEXICO 00002774  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶5. (U) Day Two focused on how to follow up seizures of infringing 
goods with criminal investigations. PGR agents shared case studies 
in which effective communication and coordination with Customs 
concluded in criminal investigations and convictions.  IMPI 
discussed a pilot program they are currently working on with Customs 
to share a database of rightholders' contacts. This pilot program 
started with 20 of the most pirated trademarks, but it is expected 
to include more once it is up and running. IMPI talked about the 
difficulties they are encountering in matching customs tariff 
classifications and taxpayers' identification numbers with IMPI's 
trademark registry.  IMPI and Customs are working hard to overcome 
this technical problem.  The World Customs Organization instructor 
discussed the information resources and international contacts 
available through the WCO. He also shared his experience in fighting 
IPR infringement in rough areas such as Paraguay and Bolivia. 
 
AmCham involvement in Training 
------------------------------ 
 
¶6. (U) On day three, more than 20 clothing, pharmaceuticals, cell 
phones, movies and music, software, and electronic devices 
companies, set up 12 expo stands that displayed fake and original 
products.  Small groups of customs officials rotated through all of 
the expo stands, spending about 20 minutes at each.  This gave them 
time to learn directly from the rightholders how to distinguish fake 
goods from original ones.  The audience told us that this 
inter-active "Touch, See and Learn" mechanism was very useful, since 
when they are inspecting shipments, they usually do not have 
original products handy to make the comparison.  The rightholders 
also distributed booklets to assist officials in their inspections. 
 
 
Achievements and looking ahead 
------------------------------ 
 
¶7. (U) Feedback from the Mexican attendees were very positive, 
particularly with respect to the heavy focus on interagency 
cooperation among Customs, PGR, and IMPI and the rightholder's 
participation in instructing how to identify infringing goods. 
Participants also appreciated the personal connections made among 
the various Mexican and U.S. agencies, which we hope will lead to 
more coordinated Mexican IPR enforcement efforts as well as better 
bilateral cooperation in attacking cross-border flows of pirated and 
counterfeit products.  The Embassy plans to hold more IPR customs 
seminars in which interagency cooperation will emphasize, and will 
include a variety of industries represented by the IPR committee of 
the American Chamber of Commerce. 
 
GARZA