VZCZCXRO6469
PP RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHME #3322/01 3272341
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 232341Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9146
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEAHLA/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQS USNORTHCOM
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 003322 
 
SENSITIVE, SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EB/TPP/MTA/IPE/HUGHES/URBAN 
STATE FOR WHA/MEX/GOMEZ 
STATE PASS TO USTR FOR MELLE/MCCOY/SHIGETOMI 
STATE PASS TO JUSTICE FOR CCIPS/KOUAME AND OPDAT/TRUEBELL 
STATE PASS TO COMMERCE FOR ITA/MAC/ONAFTA/WORD 
STATE PASS TO ITA/MAC/IPR/WILSON 
COMMERCE PASS TO USPTO FOR RODRIGUEZ/BERDUT/MORALES 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KIPR ECON SNAR MX
SUBJECT: RECENT IPR ENFORCEMENT SUCCESSES IN MEXICO 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) Two recent successes in Mexican IPR enforcement efforts 
warrant highlighting in a front-channel cable.  Mexican customs 
officials who attended a training program organized by the Embassy 
in Manzanillo in early September have since employed the detection 
techniques learned and have detained 30 containers of counterfeit 
goods at Mexico's port of Lazaro Cardenas.  Separately, Mexico's 
FDA-equivalent agency led an unprecedented raid on a chain of 
pharmacies in Cancun, and shut down seven for distributing 
counterfeit pharmaceuticals and endangering the general public. 
Both these enforcement efforts are deserving of high praise and are 
encouraging signs of increased vigilance.  However, more needs to be 
done to protect IPR in Mexico.  We will continue our training and 
cooperative efforts so as to ensure additional successes.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
Training Nets Seizures in Lazaro Cardenas 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) The Embassy, together with the Department of Justice (DOJ) 
and the Mexican Customs Administration (Aduanas), held a four-day 
training seminar in Manzanillo from September 8-11 for Mexican 
customs and law enforcement officials on criminal enforcement and 
detecting, detaining, and deterring the importation of pirated and 
counterfeit goods (see reftel).  Two of the customs officials in 
attendance were from the southern Pacific Coast port of Lazaro 
Cardenas.  Lazaro Cardenas is slightly smaller than Manzanillo, 
Mexico's largest port. In 2008, it handled 20 million tons of cargo, 
including more than half a million twenty-foot equivalent units 
(TEUs), or standard intermodal containers, mostly from China and 
elsewhere in Asia. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The two officials took the fresh insights and valuable 
techniques they learned from our training program, and employed them 
in their customs duties in Lazaro Cardenas.  They had the express 
permission of the customs director, who himself participated in a 
separate DOJ-sponsored training program in July, which afforded him 
a tour of the Port of Baltimore and the IPR Coordination Center in 
Washington, D.C., to sensitize him to the importance of intellectual 
property protection and enforcement as well as expose him to the 
potential in Mexico for increased efforts to combat intellectual 
property violations. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The actions of these Lazaro Cardenas customs officials 
resulted in the detection and seizure of 20 TEUs - almost 300 tons - 
of counterfeit apparel and accessories bearing the marks of Prada, 
Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Nike, Abercrombie, American Eagle, Peanuts, 
Hello Kitty, Dior, Armani, Hollister, Ed Hardy, and many others - 
all in less than one month.  According to Jaime Martinez, Aduanas 
Administrator of Operations, ten additional containers of 
counterfeit goods were detected in the same manner and seized late 
last week.  All 30 TEUs originated in China. 
 
¶5. (SBU) A grateful Martinez (another recipient of USG training) 
told EconOff he credits the USG-sponsored training for enabling his 
officers to make these historic seizures.  He commented that these 
seizures have been so significant that the shipping company told 
Aduanas that those ships that had already left China bound for 
Lazaro Cardenas with similar containers are now making stops either 
to offload these containers or rerouting them to other ships. 
Central America, and not Mexico, was the final destination for 
almost all of the seized containers. 
 
COFEPRIS Initiates Unprecedented Enforcement Action 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶6. (SBU) In a separate event, the Mexican Federal Commission for the 
Protection of Sanitary Risks, or COFEPRIS (the Mexican 
FDA-equivalent), raided several Yza chain pharmacies in Cancun in 
early October and closed seven for distributing counterfeit Cialis 
and other medicines.  The operation was done in coordination with 
the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) and the 
Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI - counterpart to the 
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office).  Yza is a well-known pharmacy 
chain with over 100 stores in Quintana Roo, Campeche, and Yucatan. 
 
MEXICO 00003322  002 OF 002 
 
 
As part of their compensation package, PEMEX employees in this 
region of Mexico receive coupons to purchase medicines from Yza. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Cialis manufacturer Eli Lilly provided COFEPRIS with key 
information; according to their General Counsel, Eli Lilly began 
receiving reports almost a year ago from doctors in Quintana Roo 
whose patients were complaining that their prescribed medicine was 
not working.  After tests of the medicine demonstrated it was indeed 
counterfeit, Eli Lilly built an airtight case and presented it to 
COFEPRIS.  (Note:  Under Mexican law, the authorities can pursue an 
IP violation only after receiving a complaint from the 
right-holder.)  Eli Lilly found a receptive audience in Dr. Lucio 
Galileo Lastra Martn, the new COFEPRIS Commissioner for Sanitary 
Operations and a former PRI Congressman.  Dr. Lastra took on the 
case, coordinated the Mexican interagency efforts, and launched a 
successful, unprecedented raid. 
 
COMMENTS 
-------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) This enforcement action reveals a big change within 
COFEPRIS; at the anti-counterfeit pharmaceuticals symposium 
sponsored by APEC and held in Mexico City last March, COFEPRIS 
General Commissioner Miguel Angel Toscano told the audience that 
counterfeit drugs were not a problem in Mexico.  While the extent of 
the problem may be disputed, COFEPRIS now seems to recognize that 
counterfeit pharmaceuticals are indeed a public health hazard in 
Mexico and is actively working to combat it.  Commissioner Toscano 
also participated in the same DOJ-sponsored tour of the IPR 
Coordination Center mentioned above. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) In both actions, the security of those involved was a 
paramount concern.  Eli Lilly's General Counsel told EconOff that he 
and his colleagues feared repercussions from Mexico's criminal gangs 
if these organizations learned that Eli Lilly was behind the 
complaint.  Therefore, Eli Lilly is very pleased at the effective 
manner in which COFEPRIS has obfuscated their participation.  As for 
the customs operation, it was not too long ago that the customs 
director for the Gulf Coast port of Veracruz disappeared, ostensibly 
for detaining a shipment of illicit goods bound for one of Mexico's 
criminal organizations.  Fortunately, Aduanas Administrator Martinez 
told EconOff that as Lazaro Cardenas was not the final destination 
for many of these TEU's, the cartels do not appear to be involved. 
So far, his officers have not been threatened. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Both these enforcement efforts are commendable, and 
signal that Mexican authorities are increasingly capable of and 
willing to protect and enforce intellectual property rights. 
However, Mexico must do more to enhance its enforcement efforts. 
Mexico must devote greater resources to its enforcement agencies, it 
must improve its interagency coordination, and it must continue to 
build a consistent record of aggressive prosecutions and 
deterrent-level penalties imposed by courts.  To these ends, we will 
continue our training and cooperative efforts.  END COMMENT. 
 
PASCUAL