Dubai customs calls for stronger government cooperation on IPR protection

A senior Dubai Customs official has called for stronger government cooperation on IPR protection. " We at Dubai Customs are committed to coordinate government efforts in IPR awareness, by sharing information and experiences and cooperating in hosting awareness sessions and workshops in this area,'' Yousef Ozair Mubarak, Director of IPR Department at Dubai Customs, said while chairing the first session of the unified IPR protection work team for 2014. The meeting, attended by representatives of ministries and government departments, tackled the issue of boosting cooperation aspects between the team's member ministries and departments to exchange IPR protection-related information, as well as to coordinate awareness activities and workshops organised by competent departments in a way that achieves the main purpose of establishing the work team as a framework to collect and regulate government efforts aimed for IPR protection.. The unified work team, he added, documents all activities and collects information from ministries and departments that have representatives in the team, in order to show the amount of effort exerted in the UAE to foil all IPR infringement bids; not only in terms of inspection operations and seizures carried out by entities that have the power to seize infringing goods, but also in terms of disseminating overall public awareness of these rights, to reduce the use of counterfeit goods in the community and combat commercial fraud". "We at Dubai Customs stand behind all government efforts in the area of IPR protection. We also join hands with the private sector by coordinating with brand owners and allowing them the opportunity to be part in the workshops we host. In addition, we provide IPR protection specialists in various government entities with a thorough explanation of most recent developments in piracy and trademarks counterfeiting, to enable them to stand for such attempts with more efficiency. DC is organising 4 IPR protection workshops this year. In 2013, DC made 203 seizures of IPR infringing goods". It is worth noting that the unified IPR protection work team was established in 2006 as an initiative from DC to set up a government partnership team tasked with coordinating efforts between ministries and departments concerned with IPR protection. In addition to DC, the team consists of the Federal Customs Authority, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Health, National Media Council, Department of Economic Development in Dubai, Public Prosecution, Dubai Municipality, Dubai Chamber of Commerce '&' Industry, Dubai Police General Headquarters, Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (JAFZA) and Economic Zones World.