VZCZCXRO6892
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHWR #0225/01 0611501
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 021501Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY WARSAW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7898
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHKW/AMCONSUL KRAKOW 2245
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 WARSAW 000225 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS TO USTR 
USTR FOR DWEINER AND JCHOE GROVES 
STATE FOR EUR/NCE AND EEB/TPP/IBE TMCGOWAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD ECON KIPR PL
SUBJECT: POLAND: 2009 SPECIAL 301 REVIEW: POST 
RECOMMENDATION 
 
REF: A. WARSAW 46 
     ¶B. 06 WARSAW 280 
     ¶C. 07 WARSAW 407 
     ¶D. 08 WARSAW 237 
 
WARSAW 00000225  001.2 OF 008 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary: Post recommends that Poland be removed 
from the Special 301 Watch List.  In 2008, Poland 
consolidated and extended the major advances it made during 
2007 in protecting intellectual property rights (IPR). 
Improved enforcement was highlighted in February, when Polish 
police raided what appears to be the largest copyright 
infringing disc operation ever shut down in Europe.  Contacts 
in the movie, film, software, apparel and cigarette 
industries all lauded police cooperation.  While the courts 
remain congested, closure of a major loophole in 2007 led to 
improved prosecution in 2008.  Counterfeit goods continue to 
be offered at bazaars on the German border, but those markets 
are shrinking.  Since the Warsaw Stadium closed, markets in 
Warsaw are largely free of counterfeit products.  Polish 
government authorities noticeably increased their 
understanding of how internet pirates operate, and 
effectively employed tactics to counter them, including 
shutting down three "top sites."  Use of peer-to-peer 
networks dropped, and use of legitimate online music services 
increased.  Despite increased revenues from sales of 
innovative drugs added to Poland's reimbursement list, the 
innovative pharmaceuticals sector's market access 
frustrations deepened.  However, post has seen no new 
evidence of specific IPR violations related to data 
exclusivity with American firms in several years.  While work 
remains to be done, we believe Poland has made substantial 
progress in protecting intellectual property rights.  The 
overall impression is of a climate of increasing respect for 
IPR, reflecting a broad and deep commitment by the Polish 
government.  End summary. 
 
----------- 
Enforcement 
----------- 
 
¶2. (SBU)  Rights holders reported excellent cooperation with 
the police during 2008: 
 
-- The local representative of a major American clothing 
label stated there has been a significant decline in 
counterfeit cases, in part because of "excellent 
enforcement," including markedly improved border controls. 
 
-- The music industry association, ZPAV, said cooperation 
with the police was first-rate, citing many well-coordinated 
raids in 2008.  The police opened 317 investigations related 
to counterfeit music (and an additional 27 were begun by 
customs officials and four by border guards). 
 
-- The film industry association, FOTA, worked with the 
police on over 875 investigations, resulting in 863 police 
raids and 856 criminal cases.  As a result of these raids, 
89,367 DVDs and 154,532 DVD-Rs and CD-Rs with illegal content 
were seized.  Three-quarters of these cases resulted in 
prosecutions. 
 
-- According to the Business Software Alliance (BSA) the 
Polish police were active in investigating software piracy 
and conducted at least 70 raids.  BSA also noted a number of 
"ex officio" prosecutions, as well as prosecutions initiated 
at BSA request.  BSA finds cooperation with the police so 
effective and efficient that it has not brought any civil law 
suits for several years. 
 
-- The Special 301 submission of the International 
Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) states that 
entertainment software publisher relationships with law 
enforcement authorities remain positive, and notes that in 
2008 police quickly took action against a high-volume seller 
when his activities were brought to their attention. 
 
According to an official from the Polish Border Guards, 
following Poland's entry into the Schengen Zone, Border 
Guards now work throughout the country, using mobile patrols 
to detect counterfeit goods, which flow into Poland from 
Russia, Ukraine and Lithuania.  The Border Guards are 
particularly focused on counterfeit alcohol and cigarettes, 
which present health risks as well as reduce excise tax 
collections. 
 
WARSAW 00000225  002.4 OF 008 
 
 
 
¶3.  (U)  An inter-agency committee, chaired by the Ministry 
of Culture, continued to meet and work to implement the 
Polish government's strategy for protecting IPR.  Much of the 
Committee's work focused on improving information sharing and 
coordination.  The Ministry of Culture and the Patent Office 
jointly set up a database of registered labels and trademarks 
in 2008.  Access to the database should be extended to the 
police, Border Guards and prosecutors' offices in 2009. 
Customs officials also introduced an information exchange 
program called "Vinci," which is compatible with the World 
Customs Organization's standards.  Under the program, rights 
holders can submit information (and photographs) to the Vinci 
database.  Customs officials can then use the information to 
quickly and efficiently distinguish genuine merchandise from 
counterfeits. 
 
¶4. (SBU)  Officials throughout the Polish government 
continued to build capacity to protect IPR.  In 2008-2009, 
four officials from the Ministry of Culture and one from the 
National Health Fund participated in training offered by the 
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  In fact, USPTO has 
now trained three-quarters of the personnel in the IPR office 
at the Ministry of Culture.  The Patent Office organized a 
major conference around World Intellectual Property Day.  An 
association of local rights holders organized 15 seminars in 
which the Polish Customs Service, police and Border Guards 
participated.  A manual on handling evidence in IPR cases has 
been distributed throughout the country, and the main Polish 
Police Academy has a functioning e-learning platform with 
training materials on IPR.  The Poles are also adapting their 
enforcement methodologies, as new channels for distributing 
pirated goods are discovered.  For example, after it was 
discovered that relatively small quantities of pirate discs 
were being distributed by mail, all post office customs units 
were instructed to open suspicious packages containing discs. 
 
¶5. (SBU)  Contacts report that prosecution of IPR violations 
has improved since 2007, when Poland legislatively overturned 
a Supreme Court decision that had made it difficult to 
prosecute downstream sellers of pirated goods.  The IIPA's 
Special 301 submission notes that only 10 percent of cases 
initiated by the police were dropped by prosecutors, a 
decline from 2007.  Polish courts remain congested for all 
types of cases, including those involving IPR.  Dockets are 
most congested in Warsaw, where it may take three to five 
years to reach a final judgment.  One effect of this is that 
the number cases settled by plea bargain has increased to 
50%-60%.  Rights holders state that in most cases a fine or 
suspended sentence is imposed.  (Note: Such sentences appear 
to be in the mainstream of prevailing judicial practice in 
Europe, although rights holders complain that they believe 
these sentences are insufficiently "deterrent." End note.) 
 
¶6. (SBU)  Following closure of the market at the Warsaw 
Stadium, a decline in physical goods piracy in Poland has 
made it easier for rights holders to cope with the 
overburdened court system; one major apparel company stated 
it used to have 200 open cases, but now only has 20-60. 
While rights holders state they would still like to see 
specialized IPR courts created, the need for such courts has 
lessened.  Plans to create specialized IPR courts have been 
scaled back.  A bill is pending in the Polish parliament that 
would designate one division of the district court in Warsaw 
to review schedules of payments made by "collecting rights 
societies."  At least initially, the court would have no 
criminal jurisdiction.  According to officials at the 
Ministry of Culture, this could be the first step toward 
developing specialized courts with jurisdiction over other 
IPR issues as well.  Other reforms rights holders favor 
include abolishing the need for testimony of an independent 
expert to establish that the goods in question are 
counterfeit, and re-allocating prosecutors now assigned to 
organized crime cases to form a specialized cadre of IPR 
prosecutors. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
Production, Import and Export of Counterfeit Goods 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶7. (SBU)  The executive director of Promarka, an association 
of about 35 brand owners in the food, cosmetics and chemicals 
industries (including such American firms as Proctor & Gamble 
and Coca-Cola), described piracy issues in Poland as "minimal 
 
WARSAW 00000225  003.2 OF 008 
 
 
at the moment," and certainly less urgent than three to five 
years ago.  Consequently, his association has shifted its 
focus from strengthening Polish legislation relating to 
enforcement to developing standards of conduct for online 
advertising and supporting social awareness campaigns in the 
media.  A top concern for Promarka members is a shift of 
consumers from counterfeit products to "private label" 
products.  Such goods are often of lower quality, and sell 
for a lower price, but are legally produced and marketed. 
 
¶8. (SBU)  In 2008, the Polish Customs Service seized over 
four million illicit goods.  Of these, 93% violated 
trademarks, 5% violated copyright, and 1.6% violated a 
patent.  Cigarettes accounted for 24% of seizures; chemical 
compounds for 24%; electronics, 16%; clothing, 6%; toys, 
games and sports gear, 4%; CDs and DVDs, 3%; pharmaceuticals, 
3%; foodstuffs, 2%; computer equipment, 1%; and watches and 
jewelry, 1%. 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  ZPAV states that about 20 percent of musical 
physical goods (i.e., CDs) in the Polish market are pirated, 
roughly the same as last year.  In contrast to global trends, 
sales of CDs actually increased in 2007, thanks in part to 
"Polish pricing," which makes CDs available at 40% or 50% 
less than in other markets.  In markets on the German border, 
one sees less and less music being sold, although the number 
of files per disc is increasing.  "Burned," locally produced 
CDs, are increasingly displacing "pressed" CDs from Russia or 
Ukraine.  FOTA states that they have seen a decrease in the 
number of seized discs containing pirated movies, but a 
pirated disc often contains four, six or even eight films. 
They estimate as much as 85% of the films sold in bazaars are 
pirated. 
 
¶10.  (SBU)  A shift in the computer market may lead to a 
decline in pirated software.  According to the General 
Manager of Dell Computer's factory in Poland, about 40% of 
Polish computers used to be assembled from components by 
"guys with screwdrivers," who would offer the machine with a 
pirated operating system and other software.  However, laptop 
computers are becoming more popular.  These are more 
difficult to assemble, and thus are more likely to be 
purchased from a producer offering legal software.  The 
Business Software Alliance's focus remains on companies that 
are illegally running copies of software (often initially 
legally purchased and then illegally replicated) on several 
computers. 
 
----------------- 
Notorious Markets 
----------------- 
 
¶11.  (SBU)  The Warsaw Stadium, Poland's most notorious 
market, closed in 2007.  Although concern was expressed at 
the time that the illegal trade could simply migrate 
elsewhere in Warsaw, that did not happen.  FOTA told EconOff 
that in Warsaw, markets are almost free of pirated products, 
thanks to aggressive policing.  The IIPA's Special 301 
submission noted that the Warsaw Wolumen market became almost 
completely free of counterfeited and pirated products after 
raids against the main supplier of such products in June 
¶2007.  Brand holders have been unable to determine where the 
large numbers of Asian, African, Russian and Ukrainian 
traders who formerly worked the Stadium went, but many or 
even most seem to have given up and moved on.  Increased 
vigilance at the EU border (an important factor, since most 
pirated goods were imported), coupled with disruption of the 
market in Warsaw, may have pushed the traders past the 
tipping point in assessing the risk of having goods seized 
vs. the potential rewards. 
 
¶12.  (SBU)  Open-air bazaars along the border with Germany 
continue to sell pirated goods, but in diminished quantities. 
 In its Special 301 comments submitted to USTR, Phillip 
Morris (PMI) stated Poland has "...made significant progress 
in conducting regular ex officio reviews of such markets and 
in responding to specific complaints by PMI resulting in 
enforcement actions at such markets.  This has led to a 
reduction, although not eradication, of counterfeit PMI 
cigarettes in these border markets."  Similarly, the IIPA 
noted that there were several raids at border markets in 
2008; that the music industry reported much lower quantities 
of pirated music; and that the film industry noticed a 
decrease in the supply of pirated audiovisual discs after 
 
WARSAW 00000225  004.2 OF 008 
 
 
raids of three labs in 2008 led to seizure of over 70,000 
pirated discs and 159 DVD burners.  Contacts estimated that 
the markets have shrunk by 25%-30% in the last year, largely 
in response to Poland's entry into the Schengen Zone. 
Exchange rate differences between the zloty and the Euro 
continue to draw Germans to the border to buy gasoline. 
Following established patterns, they often buy cigarettes and 
shop for other goods while there.  In addition, contacts 
speculate, while Poland's entry into the Schengen Zone means 
pirates could move their products closer to their German 
customers, the pirates continue to stop at the border because 
they fear German police more than Polish police. 
 
¶13.  (SBU)  On February 21-22, EconOff inspected three 
markets identified by ZPAV: Zgorzelec, Sienawka, and 
Kostrzyn.  At Zgorzelec and Sienawka, the market stalls were 
stocked with cheap but legal goods.  No pirated goods were 
observed in Zgorzelec.  Officials in the Sienawka local 
government stated that recently the market there has declined 
markedly.  About half the stalls were empty during EconOff's 
visit.  There was a healthy trade in cigarettes, some of 
which may have been counterfeit, but beyond that the only 
pirated good observed was a single "Moschino" shirt in the 
last stall at the back of the market.  Border guards 
maintained a visible presence, both near the markets and on 
the roads approaching them. 
 
¶14.  (SBU)  The situation in Kostrzyn was different.  The 
Kostrzyn market covered an area about twice the size of 
Washington's Eastern Market, and perhaps 30% of the stalls 
openly displayed obviously pirated goods, including Lacoste 
shirts, Puma and Adidas shoes, Dolce & Gabanna and Chanel 
handbags, caps with the New York Yankees logo, perfume and 
sunglasses.  EconOff counted only six stalls selling media 
carriers (three offering films (with German subtitles), two 
offering music, and one offering Nintendo games).  EconOff 
did not notice any police or border guard presence.  Kostrzyn 
sits on a road running straight into Berlin, and the majority 
of cars in the parking lot had German license plates. 
 
¶15. (SBU)  While Kostrzyn is clearly a pirate market, it is 
important to distinguish among countries in the region.  A 
representative of an apparel company with responsibility for 
both Poland and the Czech Republic stated that the problem 
with border markets in the Czech Republic is three times 
worse than in Poland.  Post has seen no evidence of new 
markets on Poland's eastern border springing up following 
Poland's entry into the Schengen Zone. 
 
------------- 
Optical Media 
------------- 
 
¶16.  (SBU)  In early February 2009, Polish police dismantled 
the "Masterbox" organized crime operation.  This operation 
distributed about nine million albums throughout Europe. 
Losses to the music industry alone were about EUR 19 million. 
 The losses to the film industry may have been two or three 
times higher still.  This is believed to be the largest 
copyright infringing disc operation ever shut down by police 
action in Europe.  In a press release after the raids, IFPI, 
an organization representing the worldwide interests of the 
recording industry, commented that, "The decisive action 
taken by Polish police shows the country is no safe haven for 
such criminal enterprises." 
 
¶17.  (SBU)  Disturbingly, it appears the Masterbox gang was 
using two legal and registered optical disc production 
facilities.  Prior to the raids, contacts had indicated that 
while the current optical disc decree could be strengthened, 
it was adequate, and that pressed pirate discs with 
pre-release or newly released content had not been discovered 
in Poland for some months.  The optical disc decree 
establishes controls on, and requires licensing of, optical 
media manufacturing capacity and equipment.  It mandates the 
use of source identification (SID) codes on locally 
manufactured CDs.  Producers should report material inputs 
and exports of optical media.  In fact, contacts describe the 
reporting requirements under the decree as so detailed as to 
make it difficult for industry to comply, and for the 
Ministry of Culture to review industry submissions. 
 
--------------- 
Internet Piracy 
 
WARSAW 00000225  005.2 OF 008 
 
 
--------------- 
 
¶18.  (SBU)  Over the past year, Polish government authorities 
have noticeably increased their understanding of how internet 
pirates operate, and the tactics that can be used to counter 
them.  The number of internet users has grown to about 16 
million people, or about 41% of the population.  IIPA 
monitored downloads of 13 game titles in December 2008. 
Polish BitTorrent eDonkey users were estimated to have 
downloaded more than 393,000 infringing copies, making Poland 
one of the top five infringing countries surveyed.  According 
to ZPAV, 45% of internet users download music from the 
internet.  However, compared to 2006, the number of 
peer-to-peers users significantly dropped, from 74% in 2006 
to 41% in 2008.  In constrast, the number of internet users 
downloading music from legitimate online music services is on 
the rise.  Compared to 2006, this figure almost doubled, from 
15% to 28%. 
 
¶19.  (SBU)  Officials representing E-Bay in Poland, as well 
as ZPAV and FOTA, identified lack of access to credit cards 
among Polish youth as a key factor limiting legitimate online 
commerce.  Internet shoppers can sometimes use the PayPal 
payment system, but otherwise there are no workarounds for 
the lack of credit cards.  Even if consumers have credit 
cards, they may not be able to buy legally the products they 
want.  For example, the Itunes online music store will not 
accept credit cards issued in Poland.  FOTA notes internet 
delivery of view-on-demand video generally is not available 
in Poland, one reason movie theaters recorded record ticket 
sales last year. (One local satellite television company 
recently began offering view-on-demand services, but the 
selection of titles is very limited.) 
 
¶20.  (SBU)  The police are increasingly active in internet 
piracy cases.  FOTA stated 40% of the police investigations 
of pirated films were dedicated to internet piracy, and 
almost half of 863 police raids and 856 criminal cases 
involved internet piracy.  ZPAV states that, at its request, 
the police initiated 703 cases against file sharers in 
peer-to-peer networks.  In 2008, the Polish police took down 
three "top sites" located on university servers in Poland. 
 
¶21.  (SBU)  Police knowledge of how to handle these cases has 
risen.  Since October 1, 2007, the Police Academy issued a 
manual for police officers and prosecutors on the operation 
of peer-to-peer protocols, uncovering copyright infringement 
on the internet, and collecting evidence in such cases.  A 
protocol for handling internet cases is available on the 
servers of the Police Academy.  However, expertise and 
resources for handling internet cases are not evenly 
distributed among all police units around the country. 
 
¶22.  (SBU)  ZPAV reported that most Polish Internet Service 
Providers (ISPs) do not proactively monitor their systems for 
pirated content.  However, most ISPs did react promptly to 
requests from ZPAV to remove infringing music from their 
servers.  Some were unwilling to block peer-to-peer service 
hubs simply at ZPAV's request, but generally will cooperate 
with the Polish police.  Nevertheless, a study by ZPAV of 
cases initiated between October 2006 and November 2008 found 
that 30% of the cases were dismissed because it was not 
possible to identify from ISP records the individual user 
responsible for distributing illegal content.  The Ministry 
of Culture was unaware of any cases where an ISP was held 
liable for copyright, trademark or patent infringement, but 
stated ISPs are required to provide information in such 
cases.  Poland does not have a "notice and takedown" law. 
 
¶23.  (SBU)  DC   is the most commonly used peer-to-peer 
service, and is most frequently found on academic networks 
(because universities tend to have the best computer 
equipment and the largest concentration of users hungry for 
"free" music and films).  In 2008, industry groups sent over 
200 letters to Polish universities, and are working with the 
universities to adopt internal rules that would prohibit 
users of academic networks from using the networks to 
distribute pirated files. 
 
-------------------- 
Government Software 
------------------- 
 
¶24.  (SBU)  Poland's Law on Copyrights and Related Rights 
 
WARSAW 00000225  006.2 OF 008 
 
 
requires all government institutions to use licensed computer 
programs.  Post has received no reports of illegal software 
being used by the Polish government, and no rights holders 
have identified this as an issue in Poland. 
 
-------- 
Treaties 
-------- 
 
¶25. (U)  Poland has ratified both the 1996 WIPO Copyright 
Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty. 
Poland takes an active role in WIPO, and in 2008 the 
president of the Patent Office was a candidate to become WIPO 
Director General.  The Patent Office has also been active in 
ensuring that key international texts relating to IPR are 
available in Polish.  For example, in 2008 the Patent Office 
published the first Polish language legal commentary on the 
landmark Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial 
Property. 
 
--------------- 
Pharmaceuticals 
--------------- 
 
¶26.  (SBU)  In January 2009, the Polish Ministry of Health 
added 10 innovative drugs without generic competitors to its 
list of drugs eligible for reimbursement from the National 
Health Service. (ref A)  This is in addition to the 33 new 
active substances added to the reimbursement list in 2007. 
Thanks to those 2007 additions, throughout 2008 most U.S. 
innovative pharmaceuticals companies operating in Poland told 
EconOff they were meeting or exceeding their earnings 
targets.  Companies were also adding employees, at least 
until the global financial downturn began to hit the real 
Polish economy. 
 
¶27.  (SBU)  Despite apparent growth in sales and revenues in 
the innovative pharmaceuticals sector in 2008, in several 
ways the industry's frustrations with market access deepened, 
as regulatory processes became even less transparent: 
 
-- It remains unclear what criteria the Health Ministry uses 
to determine which drugs, or categories of drugs, to add to 
the reimbursement list. 
 
-- The Ministry continued to fail to meet deadlines in Polish 
law for deciding whether to add a given drug to the 
reimbursement list.  (However, whether there is a backlog of 
applications is not a straightforward matter.  Ministry 
officials assert that in many cases companies have failed to 
update or re-file an application in accordance with 
procedures adopted subsequent to the original filing, or have 
failed to respond to requests for supplemental data.  In some 
cases, the Ministry either decided a drug is not sufficiently 
cost effective to justify adding it to the list, or rejected 
the price proposed by a producer, but the producer refuses to 
accept this as final action by the Ministry.) 
 
-- The Ministry of Health met once in 2008 with the American 
Chamber of Commerce's Committee on Pharmaceuticals.  Despite 
promises given by senior Polish officials to USG officials to 
continue a dialogue with American companies, the Ministry has 
not responded to repeated requests to set up another meeting. 
 
-- In an effort to prevent corruption, the Ministry 
introduced strict new rules for meetings of Ministry 
officials with individual companies.  It now takes about six 
months to arrange a 30-minute meeting with regulators. 
 
-- The Ministry began requiring a positive assessment from 
the Health Technology Assessment Agency (AOTM).  Similar 
assessments are required in many other European health care 
regulatory systems.  However, the Ministry initially refused 
to permit AOTM to meet with company officials. 
Pharmaceuticals companies complain that AOTM's methodologies 
are either unclear or inappropriate, but AOTM officials told 
EconOff that their methodologies are publicly available and 
conform to general European practices.  Companies complain 
that the AOTM process takes too long, but one should also 
note that companies would prefer to have an application 
delayed within AOTM rather than receive an expeditious 
negative recommendation on the cost effectiveness of their 
product. 
 
 
WARSAW 00000225  007.2 OF 008 
 
 
-- At the end of 2008, the Ministry adopted a regulation 
prohibiting sales calls on doctors and hospitals during 
working hours.  Companies assert this substantially disrupted 
their business plans. 
 
-- The Ministry is drafting an amendment to the 
Pharmaceuticals Law that would require companies to sell 
their drugs at fixed prices, eliminating their ability to 
give rebates to particular pharmacies.  Innovative companies 
assert that this would limit their ability to compete and 
would raise prices for patients.  A Deputy Minister of Health 
told EmbOffs that the Ministry is still discussing internally 
whether to include such a provision in whatever bill is 
eventually introduced. 
 
¶28.  (SBU)  These genuine market access frustrations should 
be distinguished from failure to protect intellectual 
property.  Three years ago post's input for the 2005 Special 
301 report stated, "The Polish government has been less than 
aggressive in protecting intellectual property rights (read 
data exclusivity) in the past; however, now we are dealing 
with the legacy of the ghost of the data exclusivity past, 
with no strong evidence of new violation of TRIPS obligations 
being brought forth.  It is understandable that the 
innovative drug industry is frustrated with its lack of 
market access, but we believe the best way to assist the 
industry is to focus on tangible issues that we can attack 
now, rather than go through the repetitive and less effective 
process of reminding the Poles of their international 
obligations." (ref B)  That statement is even more applicable 
today. 
 
¶29.  (SBU)  Polish legislation still provides six years of 
data protection for products registered in Poland.   However, 
Poland does extend the European "8-2-1" term of protection to 
all products registered at the EU level.  As a practical 
matter, all new products are in fact registered at the EU 
level (especially if the company producing the product is a 
major innovative pharmaceuticals company with international 
operations).  Consequently, the lesser degree of protection 
for Polish-registered products is of little or no commercial 
significance. 
 
¶30.  (SBU)  As stated in post's Special 301 submissions for 
both 2006 and 2007 (refs C and D), and as we reaffirm now for 
2008, we have seen no new evidence of specific IPR violations 
related to data exclusivity with American firms, and no U.S. 
pharmaceutical firm has reported to us a new case of patent 
infringement.  Moreover, PHRMA's Special 301 submission fails 
to identify a single instance of a specific drug's patent 
being infringed. 
 
¶31.  (SBU)  The 2008 Special 301 Report cited as a reason for 
keeping Poland on the Watch List "Poland's lack of 
coordination between its health and patent authorities to 
prevent the issuance of marketing approvals for unauthorized 
copies of patented pharmaceutical products, as well as 
reported lack of adequate enforcement remedies when generic 
pharmaceutical products are launched during the term of an 
innovator's patent."  However, post knows of no reason to 
believe that in fact any such products received marketing 
approval or were launched in 2006, 2007 or in 2008, and has 
no reason to believe that is likely to occur in 2009. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶32.  (SBU)  Poland has come a long way in protecting IPR.  In 
2007, Poland improved its IPR legislation, closed the most 
notorious market for counterfeits in eastern Europe, and 
improved control of its eastern border.  In 2008, the Poles 
improved information sharing among enforcement agencies. 
Rights holders across the board praised cooperation with the 
police, who notably conducted a substantial number of 
investigations regarding internet piracy during the last 
year.  The Poles also continue to build capacity, taking 
advantage of training offered by the U.S. government.  We 
still have concerns about activity at markets on Poland's 
border with Germany, although these appear to be shrinking. 
In terms of legislation and education, we believe Poland 
provides fairly strong protections.  Poland is not free from 
pirated goods, but the government recognizes the remaining 
problems, is addressing them, and generally making progress. 
 
WARSAW 00000225  008.2 OF 008 
 
 
The IPR situation in Poland today is substantially changed 
from the situation several years ago.  The Polish 
government's efforts to protect IPR should be recognized. 
Consequently, we recommend that Poland be removed from the 
Special 301 Watch List. 
ASHE