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Belarus calls for joint international effort to fight counterfeit products
MINSK, 21 December (BelTA) – Over 500 experts from 15 countries are taking part in the 8th international forum on fighting counterfeit products Anti-Counterfeit 2020. The forum is scheduled to take place in Minsk on 21-22 December in a hybrid format, the press service of the State Science and Technology Committee told BelTA.
In his welcome speech the committee’s Chairman Aleksandr Shumilin noted that fight against counterfeit products stimulates inventions and enables conditions for entrepreneurship development.
However, the global counterfeit products situation is getting worse while existing practices of legal regulation and law enforcement in the sphere of protection of rights to intellectual property are insufficiently efficient and cannot radically change the situation, he noted. Experts estimate that the overall economic damage from counterfeit products may reach $4.7 trillion by 2022. Damage from international trade in counterfeit goods will reach $990 billion, with digital piracy damage estimated at about $850 billion.
“It is obvious that in today’s reality our countries should put more efforts into fighting the spread of counterfeit goods and into consolidating efforts in this area. Only together can we succeed in the fight against trade in counterfeit products,” Aleksandr Shumilin stressed.
Participants of the forum are expected to discuss practical aspects of the fight against counterfeit goods in the digital environment. They will also discuss the labelling and tracking of goods, problems of product safety and counteraction of forgeries, mechanisms designed to counteract illegal trade in tobacco products in the Eurasian Economic Union. As a result of the forum the National Center of Intellectual Property of Belarus and the Federal Service for Intellectual Property of Russia will sign memorandums on mutual understanding and on granting access to the patent database PatSearch. Access to the patent database will allow obtaining information about inventions and utility models of Russia (USSR), the CIS states, Georgia, the Eurasian Patent Organization, as well as the world’s leading patent agencies.
The Anti-Counterfeit 2020 forum has been organized by the Belarusian government, the State Science and Technology Committee, the National Center of Intellectual Property of Belarus, the Eurasian Economic Commission, the international association Anti-Counterfeiting, the intellectual property protection association BelBrand.
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