Chronicle of the working breakfast on trademark counterfeiting on the Internet, organized by Elzaburu.
Trademark counterfeiting is a growing phenomenon that has become stronger with technological advances. Crimes against industrial and intellectual property do not cause private harm, but rather affect the entire society, something highlighted by the firm Elzaburu, which in its defense of business innovation, recently organized the work day 'Trends against trademark counterfeiting over the Internet'. This Round Table, which framed the current reality regarding this phenomenon and outlined the fields of action to tackle it, was moderated by the Doctor of Law Juan José Caselles, belonging to the firm, who presented the book 'Trademark Law and Criminal Procedure' , a work that aims to serve as a reference on the subject.
According to data compiled in the book, companies that intensively use industrial property rights represent more than 25% of employment in the European Union (EU), 33% of the wealth generated and, In Spain alone, they affect more than six million jobs. Counterfeiting of brands is carried out at a multinational level in all types of products of daily use, “including medicines, food or prostheses, which also constitutes a risk to public health“explained Juan José Caselles. “In the fight against this problem we encounter great barriers such as the absence or accuracy of criminal legislation to act, the difficulties in police pursuits, the constant technological and social changes, the anonymity offered by the Internet, the territoriality of the laws and, Furthermore, an undeniable social tolerance towards this crimehe added.
To José Antonio Morenor, General Director of ANDEMA (Association for the Defense of Trademarks), that of counterfeits “It is a growing business for which we do not have exact figures, but about 20% of the replicas are sold online", accepting that “The times of the Internet and those of Justice are very different”. Furthermore, he explained that it is not a problem that can be solved in each country, but that the support of the European Commission (EC) is needed to address it, since crimes are committed transnationally or multinationally. “The good news is that it seems that marketing platforms are beginning to move"He added.
Nuria Gene, the director of the Bureau du Champagne in Spain (CIVC), explained how piracy affects her business, due to the frequency in which the designation of origin of Champagne is used for all types of businesses and products, especially in the sale of fake bottles. The threat to its business in Spain, ninth market with 4 million bottles in 2016, and in other countries, has reached such severity that nearly 40% of the Bureau's employees are now in charge of fighting piracy.
Luis Manuel Vallés Causeda, Deputy Director General of Asset Location and Recovery, Office of Asset Recovery and Management (ORGA), of the Ministry of Justice, said that collaborations with platforms from other countries are increasingly frequent in the face of this problem. “We try to do the maximum financial damage to these networks so that they cannot recover and thus be able to stop their actions."He explained.
“Everything that is a brand can be counterfeited, from bearings for airplane engines to automobiles,” in the words of Manuel Garcia Torres, Inspector of the General Commissariat of Judicial Police (UCDEV) in matters of crimes against Intellectual and Industrial Property. Counterfeiting entails harmful consequences for society, such as risk to public health, lack of consumer protection, underground economy, smuggling, corruption, tax evasion, money laundering or illegal financing of other criminal activities. “We are aware that in countries like Bulgaria, counterfeiting has even been used to financially support the Islamic State"He explained.
"The Internet is a reflection of reality: just as today the manta top is seen as something normal and everyday, it is easy to find pages on the Internet that sell fake products.", according Damián Fuentes, director of Hestia Consultores, who explained that “Google's indexing system, opaque payment methods and others such as cryptocurrencies favor the online sale of these replicas" and that "the problem is not so much regulatory, but compliance: supervisors are not working to stop the problem".
As a representative of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office against Computer Crime, Maria Pilar Rodriguez described this crime as “unfathomable”, accepting that “The large volume of work and the lack of specialization in the administration of Justice slows down – or closes – the processes”. Furthermore, he stressed that the legislation of the Court of Justice of the EU, which does not allow traffic data to be preserved in favor of the freedom of citizens, places additional obstacles that make the investigation difficult. “Fortunately, the Ministry has already begun to talk about the possibility of creating an intellectual property prosecutor to avoid the high number of problems that brands encounter in the processing of each complaint.", concluded the prosecutor.
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