VZCZCXRO0786
RR RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHTL #0079/01 0851331
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 261331Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY TALLINN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1078
INFO RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHLN/AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG 1288
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 2651
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TALLINN 000079 
 
EEB/TTP/IPE FOR JO ELLEN URBAN AND JOSH HALLOCK 
EUR/NB FOR MIGUEL RODRIGUES 
DEPT PLEASE PASS USTR 
DOC PASS TO USPTO FOR MICHAEL SMITH 
USEU FOR GREG GARRAMONE 
MOSCOW FOR USPTO TRACY PERELLI 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD KIPR ECON EN
SUBJECT: IPR SUCCESSES AND STRATEGIES IN ESTONIA 
 
Ref: (A) 08 Tallinn 113 
     (B) Helsinki 57 
     (C) Tallinn 48 
     (D) 08 Tallinn 326 
 
TALLINN 00000079  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  Good Embassy partnerships with the 
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), local 
NGOs, the business community and the Government of 
Estonia (GOE) will allow us to achieve our MSP goal 
to protect IPR and combat piracy in the digital 
environment.  Inter-agency law enforcement training 
seminars (Ref B) and public awareness programs with 
the American Chamber of Commerce in Estonia 
(AmCham), Estonias Ministry of Education, and local 
schools are both part of our strategy.  Post is also 
encouraging the GOE to see digital piracy in the 
larger context of fighting cyber crime, and 
enhancing cyber security.  Tallinn thanks USPTO and 
Embassy Helsinki for excellent support and 
coordination on all these fronts.  End Summary. 
 
Public-Private Partnerships: USPTO, AmCham, and 
Estonian Educators 
 
¶2.  (U) Estonia has one of the highest internet 
penetration rates in the world, so we have placed 
special focus on IPR activities.  USPTO has been our 
closest ally in these efforts and the payoff is 
clear: Estonia has stayed off of USTRs Special 301 
watch list for over seven years.  Since 2006, we 
have hosted three USPTO-funded seminars for over 150 
Estonian officials on IPR standards and enforcement. 
In addition, four police officers, a customs 
officer, a prosecutor and two lawyers from the 
Estonian Patent Office have attended USPTO's Global 
Intellectual Property Academy (GIPA) since 2005.  As 
a result, these officials have been trained in U.S. 
methods and understand how IPR is vital to economic 
growth.  This new cadre of prosecutors and attorneys 
will be needed to enable greater enforcement of IP 
laws in Estonia. 
 
¶3. (U) Critical to future success is a focus on both 
law enforcement efforts and reduction of demand for 
online pirated materials.  In cooperation with USPTO 
and the IPR Committee of the American Chamber of 
Commerce in Estonia (AmCham), Embassy Tallinn has 
initiated several projects to raise public awareness 
and educate students and teachers: 
 
On March 20, AmChams IPR committee (our most active 
local partner) held its third annual Teachers 
Training seminar, focusing on Estonian youth.  These 
seminars, sponsored by Microsoft, and endorsed by 
the Ministry of Education and Research (MOER), have 
trained over 200 teachers from around the country on 
how to present IPR in the classroom.  In 
coordination with Embassy Helsinki, a Finnish author 
presented an IPR handbook for teachers at this 
years conference, which we translated and posted on 
Estonias Ministry of Culture IPR site www.autor.ee. 
 
 
-- With Embassy guidance and support, AmChams IPR 
committee succeeded in getting the Finnish digital 
antipiracy handbook and other IPR materials loaded 
on 4,000 laptop computers that the MOER distributed 
to Estonian teachers in 2008-09, despite serious 
budget cuts. 
 
-- As a result of AmChams and Embassy lobbying, 
MOER will, for the first time ever, include IPR in 
the new Estonian national school curriculum to be 
launched in 2010.  AmCham committee members such as 
the Business Software Alliance (BSA) have agreed to 
develop teaching materials for Estonian schools.  To 
leverage this requirement, the Embassy has launched 
a joint project with AmCham to provide each school 
in Estonia with a copy of the World Intellectual 
Property Organization (WIPO) handbook Learn from 
the Past, Create the Future.  The Arts and 
Copyright.  Post used USPTO funds to translate 
 
TALLINN 00000079  002 OF 002 
 
 
2,000 copies into Estonian and adapt it in 
accordance with domestic legislation. 
 
-- In September 2008, the Embassy launched a contest 
to create a public service announcement on digital 
piracy in coordination with the Marketing and 
Advertising Department of Tallinn University (TLU). 
 Four student teams created PSAs in the form of a 
web-based ad that can be placed on popular Estonian 
websites.  IPR experts from the Estonian 
Organization for Copyright Protection (Ref C) and 
the Business Software Alliance advised the teams. 
The Charge announced the winner at a reception on 
March 3 attended by local PR firms, BSA, a Member of 
Parliament and GOE officials.  Participants 
committed to remain closely engaged with us on anti- 
piracy efforts.  TLU also agreed to give all 
students three academic credits for their efforts. 
The project provided a forum for engaging our 
primary audience - young, computer savvy students - 
on the importance of respecting IPR in the digital 
environment.  Post will launch the PSA and a 
parallel media campaign in conjunction with World IP 
Day in April. 
 
The Big Picture: Fighting Digital Piracy as a form 
of Cyber Crime 
 
¶4. (U) One of our biggest obstacles to getting 
greater enforcement of IPR in the digital 
environment here is the GOE's Ministry of Justice, 
and prosecutors' reluctance to give such cases 
higher priority.  IPR crimes compete for resources 
with physical crime, terrorism and many other law 
enforcement priorities.  We know of several cases 
where Estonian police have dropped IP cases handed 
to them on a platter by industry groups, for 'lack 
of state interest.'  We are working closely with the 
police and other local contacts to ensure the GOE 
puts greater emphasis on prosecution of significant 
cases in the coming year.  This will help Estonia 
avoid gaining a reputation as a safe haven for 
digital piracy.  In a recent positive development, 
the Estonian Central Criminal Police (CCP) 
approached us with interest in sending one of their 
officers to the upcoming USPTO IPR conference in 
Helsinki.  (Ref B)  As the CCP deals only with more 
serious crimes, this may signal a willingness by the 
GOE to increase attention on this issue in the 
future. 
 
¶5.  (U) Estonia leads international efforts to 
promote cyber security (Ref D), and NATO accredited 
Estonia's Center for Cooperative Cyber Defense as a 
NATO Center of Excellence in May 2008.  Post is 
working to capitalize on Estonia's engagement on 
cyber security to argue that effective IPR 
protection is a key component of the larger effort 
against cyber crime.  Law enforcement and network 
security professionals agree that there is 
substantial overlap between criminal activity aimed 
at credit card fraud, online identity theft, digital 
piracy, network hacking, denial of service (DOS) 
attacks, and other threats to legitimate e-commerce. 
 Through training, lobbying the GOE and media 
efforts, we will stress the 'spin-off' benefits of 
Estonia's growing core competency in cyber defense: 
a safer and more favorable environment for 
innovation and growth in the digital economy. 
 
¶6.  (U) Comment:  Enhancing protection of IPR is an 
MSP priority for Embassy Tallinn.  In this fight, 
regional cooperation - particularly sharing best 
practices and information - has proved to be 
extremely useful and cost-effective.  Post would 
especially like to thank Embassy Helsinki for their 
liaison with Finnish IPR experts for all law 
enforcement training seminars, and for their 
assistance finding appropriate teaching materials 
for Estonian schools.  End Comment. 
 
DECKER