What if you were Diageo, trademark owner of the world famous SMIRNOFF vodka and, as you walked into a local Ukrainian grocery store, you saw a copycat bottle of vodka being sold under the name of “Boris Smirnov?” Or you were Coca-Cola, and discovered that someone had registered dozens of your famous trademarks at the Russian patent and trademark office and was now offering to sell them back to you, for a “reasonable fee?” What if you were one of more than 25 international manufacturers of drugs who, today, report at least one of their brands is counterfeited in Russia?

These are not hypothetical “what ifs?” These are real examples of the thievery, extortion and other trademark infringements that occur every day in Russia, Ukraine, other CIS countries and the Baltic States.

It’s not surprising then that intellectual property (IP) rights protection and enforcement is a priority of The PBN Company’s work assignments for its many private sector clients investing and doing business in the region.

“Trademark violations, patent infringements and counterfeits are a pervasive problem in the Baltic States and CIS countries, costing businesses and governments billions of dollars each year in lost sales and lost tax revenues,” says PBN Chairman & CEO Peter B. Necarsulmer. “IP violations are also key issues in bilateral trade relations with the U.S. and the European Union and a major obstacle for many of these countries’ aspiration to join the World Trade Organization.”

Global IP issues recently came under the spotlight in Washington D.C. this past May, as the International Trademark Association (INTA) held its 124th Annual Meeting in the nation’s capital. It also gave The PBN Company an opportunity to draw attention to the imperative to strengthen IP enforcement and anti-counterfeiting in the former Soviet Union and Baltic States.

Working with our client, the Coalition for Intellectual Property Rights, PBN undertook a busy week of meetings, speeches, roundtable discussions, receptions and a toast or two to cooperation and goodwill as the private sector and public sector work together on strategies to stop counterfeits and protect trademarks in the CIS countries and Balic States.

In this issue of Access PBN is a summary of the week’s events and a sampling of The PBN Company’s work in this extremely urgent public policy issue.