VZCZCXYZ0007
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTL #0048/01 0541320
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 231320Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY TALLINN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1042
INFO RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHRA/AMEMBASSY RIGA 3032
RUEHVL/AMEMBASSY VILNIUS 6778
RUEHHE/AMEMBASSY HELSINKI 5328

UNCLAS TALLINN 000048 
 
DEPT FOR EEB/TTP/IPE AND FOR EUR/NB 
STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR 
DOC PLEASE PASS USPTO Robert Stoll 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD KIPR ECON EN
SUBJECT: U.S., BALTIC INDUSTRY MAY LOSE ESTONIAN IPR 
ADVOCATE MARCH 1ST 
 
REF: 07 TALLINN 138 
 
¶1.  (U) This is an action request.  Please see 
paragraph 7. 
 
¶2.  (U) Summary: New budget cuts at the Motion 
Picture Association (MPA) threaten roughly USD 
40,000 in funding to Estonia's only anti-piracy NGO, 
the Estonian Organization for Copyright Protection 
(EOCP).  Loss of this funding will force EOCP to 
shut down, and we will lose one of our strongest 
allies in the region in the fight against digital 
piracy.  The EOCP provides invaluable training and 
educational services, particularly in the digital 
environment, for law enforcement agencies and other 
GOE officials.  In recent years it has lobbied 
successfully to have intellectual property included 
in the Estonian national school curriculum, and has 
helped train teachers on presenting the concept of 
IPR in the classroom.  Its expertise is invaluable 
to local law enforcement efforts to increase their 
capacity to combat cyber crime.  Post requests 
Department lead engagement with MPAA to urge MPAA to 
reconsider this decision. 
End Summary. 
 
¶3.  (U) The Motion Picture Association of America 
(MPAA), through its international counterpart the 
MPA, recently announced it will withdraw critical 
funding for the Estonian Organization for Copyright 
Protection (EOCP), one of Estonia's most active NGOs 
in the field of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) 
education and enforcement.  This effective NGO, 
established by the MPA and local video distributors 
in 1998, is the only anti-piracy organization in 
Estonia that provides the Government of Estonia 
(GOE) with a source of expertise on fighting IPR 
violations in the digital environment and on the 
internet.  Embassy Tallinn has cooperated with EOCP 
to provide training to police, judges and 
prosecutors in Estonia and throughout the Baltic 
region.  EOCP expertise has been particularly 
valuable in several recent seminars sponsored by the 
Tallinn AmCham IPR Committee and the U.S. Patent and 
Trademark Office (USPTO).  Finally, the EOCP is the 
only organization to contribute expert testimony in 
IPR court cases in Estonia, and acts in place of 
industries that do not have local representation. 
 
¶4.  (U) According to Erik Mandre, EOCP's Managing 
Director, MPA sent a letter on February 17 
announcing its intention to terminate the MPA Pan- 
Baltic project effective of March 1, 2009.  EOCP 
faced a similar situation in March 2007 when MPA 
decided to cancel its membership, and withhold its 
annual contribution of USD $36,500, reducing the 
EOCP's annual budget by one-third.  However, due to 
US intervention and heavy lobbing by its members, 
EOCP signed a cooperation project MPA Pan-Baltic 
project leveraging USD $36,000 on joint operations 
against Internet piracy in all three Baltic 
countries, with EOCP as the coordinator for this 
project. 
 
¶5. (U) Since its establishment, EOCP has developed a 
successful liaison relationship with police, 
prosecutors and customs officials, organizing raids, 
giving expert opinion on seized goods, and arranging 
training for law-enforcement agencies.  EOCP is also 
instrumental in the fight against Internet piracy - 
the biggest IPR challenge in 'e-Stonia,' a country 
that is one of Europe's leading consumers of 
electronic data.  In 2008, EOCP closed 957 Internet 
sites involved in illegal, IPR-infringing activity, 
and removed 69,417 bootleg files from local public 
file transfer protocol (FTP) servers.   There are no 
IPR holders with local offices in Estonia; therefore 
EOCP holds powers-of-attorney with many industry 
groups to represent them in court cases where 
infringement of their rights is alleged.  In short, 
EOCP's activities have a powerful multiplier effect 
throughout Estonian society and beyond, through its 
ability to leverage expertise at many levels of the 
GOE, and with education for the public at large. 
 
Further, EOCP actively participates with the GOE in 
drafting policies, and lobbying for firmer IPR 
regimes. 
 
¶6. (U) The EOCP estimates that closing down their 
anti-piracy operations could result in a significant 
loss of legitimate audio/video sales to internet 
piracy, as Estonia has one of the highest Internet 
penetration rates in the world.  Without EOCP and 
its counterparts in Latvia and Lithuania, there will 
be no regional brake on digital piracy in the Baltic 
States and the legal market of movies distribution 
will suffer.  Protecting legitimate e-commerce in 
the Baltics in these difficult economic times is 
directly in the USG's interest. 
 
¶7.  (U) Action Request: We request Department lead 
agencies to engage with MPAA and urge 
reconsideration of this decision.  The issue of 
copyright, trademark and patent protection is a 
shared interest for both the USG and private 
industry (it is an MSP priority for the Embassy). 
Both U.S. and Estonian law enforcement bodies 
frequently stress that digital piracy is a growing 
threat, with the potential to attract organized 
crime because of relatively low risks and high 
profit margins associated with it.  The work of the 
EOCP has been instrumental to Estonia's success in 
protecting IPR, and staying off of USTR's Special 
301 Watchlist for almost a decade.  If the EOCP is 
forced to close because of the withdrawal of MPAA's 
meager support, the U.S. audio/video industry will 
lose one of its strongest advocates in the region, 
and may lose market share to increased piracy as 
well.  The ensuing absence of any meaningful anti- 
piracy efforts in Estonia would encourage operators 
who are looking for a safe haven from which to set 
up illegal websites offering pirated software, films 
and music worldwide. 
 
DECKER