Cablegate: Poland: Government Announces Antipiracy Strategy

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 WARSAW 003361

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/NCE
STATE PASS USTR FOR DONNELLY/ERRION
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD KIPR PL
SUBJECT: POLAND: Government Announces Antipiracy Strategy
for 2005 and Beyond

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SUMMARY
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1. (U) During the September 13, Council of Ministers meeting
in Warsaw, the interagency group approved a strategy for
combating intellectual property rights (IPR) piracy. The
report focuses several strategic goals and emphasizes the
importance of the "public-private sector partnership" to
achieve a higher level of protection of IPR in Poland.
Although some elements of the strategy are crosscutting, the
focus is decidedly on optical disc protection.

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THE STRATEGY
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2. (U) The report highlights five specific strategic goals:

- to increase the efficiency and to improve the coordination
of the state authorities' activities (police, border guard,
customs) in fighting piracy;

- to increase the efficiency of the justice system's
activities in fighting piracy;

- to draft appropriate changes to the law related to the
need for improvement in conducting proceedings regarding
infringements of copyright and neighbouring rights;

- to limit piracy at bazaars and street markets; to increase
the efficiency of enforcement authorities' actions against
internet piracy;

- to monitor the activities of public administration
bodies."

3. (U) In a press release from Ministry of Culture, the
Minister Waldemar Dabrowski stated that "the capability of a
state to provide intellectual property protection is one of
the main indicators of the credibility of this state on the
international arena. This applies to the political
dimension, but also to the economic one. This is one of the
criteria for measuring the given country's attractiveness as
a host of foreign investment, especially in the field of
high technology, i.e. the investment which is most desired
while modernizing the Polish economy. As proved by this
report, the year 2004 can be perceived as a breakthrough in
the field of the Polish government's efforts to increase the
standards of intellectual property."

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THE REALITY
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4. (SBU) Although Dabrowski is right to note 2004 (as well
as some enforcement efforts in 2005) as heralding progress
in Poland's IPR protection regime, there remain significant
problems. The thorniest problem, noted in earlier Embassy
telegrams, remains the bazaars in the western border areas.
In conversations with Econoff, Marek Staszewski and Jan
Baldyga of the Union of Audio Video Manufacturers (ZPAV)
both noted that there have been some significant enforcement
actions along the border with Germany, specifically in the
Wroclaw-Goerlitz area. This includes some significant
seizures just this past summer (to be reported septel).

5. (SBU) Nonetheless, ZPAV believes that the measures used
to counter piracy in Warsaw Stadium (surveillance cameras,
in particular) could also be effective in dealing with the
"economic tourism" taking place in border markets, where
primarily German nationals come to buy optical disc media at
reduced - but not that much reduced, ironically - prices.
(Note: Baldyga noted pirate DVD prices in the bazaars
running at about 17 Euros.) And although the majority of
the production, according to ZPAV, continues to come from
Russia via Ukraine (with an upsurge, they claim, in
smuggling via Lithuania), both Baldyga and Staszewski noted
with somewhat wry humor that the pirate production line that
had been seized by Polish authorities early last year in
Wroclaw, and then "disappeared," remains unrecovered.

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COMMENT
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6. (SBU) Post continues to work with industry and Polish
authorities to emphasize greater efforts on the border.
Before the Special 301 season begins again in earnest, we
hope to be able to report some ad

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