The growing illegal trade in counterfeit goods is posing ever-new challenges to business and governments worldwide to combine forces against the willful forging of well-known brands and trademarks by organized criminal networks and, as it is increasingly becoming known, groups linked to international terrorists. Working closely with trademark owners and the Coalition for Intellectual Property Rights (CIPR), law enforcement authorities in Latvia recently scored a milestone victory in this ongoing war on fakes. On December 10, 2001, CIPR in partnership with the corporate and state sectors organized the public incineration of over 25 million counterfeit cigarettes.

A short summary of the major factors and events contributing to this successful demonstration of public-private cooperation in the fight against counterfeiting is presented below:

Latvia is a major transit point in the pipeline of counterfeit goods bound for western European markets

In 2001 Latvian police and customs officials intercepted several large shipments of counterfeit goods in transit through Latvia on their way to consumers in western European markets. These are clear signals that Latvia is located on a strategic geopolitical crossroads for global counterfeiting and smuggling operations. The fate of three large cargoes of counterfeit Benson & Hedges, Marlboro and Marlboro Lights brand cigarettes, in particular, became a litmus test for the Latvian government’s resolve to uphold free and fair trade under rule of law before the eyes of the international community.

CIPR works with Government to establish new procedural precedent to legally destroy seized counterfeit goods without civil court action

Besides delaying indefinitely any further actions, the state authorities had few options other than to see these fake cigarettes destroyed. However, the official decision to incinerate such large quantities of impounded fake goods had never before been taken independently of judicial rulings in a court of law. Even protracted and costly civil litigation was impossible due to lack of conclusive evidence in these cases. CIPR’s intervention and liaison efforts effectively facilitated this decision-making process, encouraging the Government of Latvia to take a proactive position to overcome this procedural obstacle and set an important new extra-judicial precedent for trademark protection and enforcement.

Public and Private Sector: acting together to achieve a common agenda

More than ever before, the need for joint action by a private-public partnership was clear to all sides. Consultations between CIPR, key officials from the relevant state authorities and representatives of trademark owners Philip Morris International and British American Tobacco, both founding corporate members of the Coalition, were instrumental in expediting the order to destroy the fake cigarettes without the customary recourse to the courts. Furthermore, Latvian officials and the trademark owners strongly supported CIPR’s recommendation that the pending destruction action should be conducted as a public event to maximize the impact of the implicit message: that the state cannot tolerate the trade in counterfeits, but it also cannot fight this battle alone.

Communicating the anti-counterfeiting message and raising awareness among IPR stakeholders

Recognizing the need for enhanced cooperation on multiple levels, CIPR helped organize the public incineration attended by high-ranking Latvian government officials, key diplomats, private sector stakeholders, as well as consumer organizations. The destruction event received broad coverage in both Latvian- and Russian-language print and electronic media. Not only did the action demonstrate the benefits of inter-agency coordination on the domestic level, a common challenge faced by many Baltic and CIS nations, but also underscored the importance of cross-border cooperation among neighboring states and trading partners in combating this complex and elusive global threat.

Finally, the action served also as a meaningful public education initiative, sending the anti-counterfeiting message not only to the media and consumers in general, but also specifically to the counterfeit goods smugglers and their local and regional accomplices. This public incineration event should stand as an example to inspire and sustain other successful battles pending in the global war against counterfeiting.

For additional information on CIPR, you can contact us in these locations:

Washington, DC: (1-202) 466-6210
London, UK: (44) 207-580-6367
Riga, Latvia: (371) 728-0759
Moscow, Russia: (7095) 745-8700
Kyiv, Ukraine: (38) 044 464-1237
Chisinau, Moldova: (3732) 23-28-04

Or, please visit our website at www.cipr.org