STRASBOURG, FRANCE - The International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy initiative (BASCAP) group launched on October 17, 2008 a set of Intellectual Property (IP) guidelines designed to help businesses manage copyright and branded materials and deter trade in counterfeit and pirate goods, a press release by the ICC stated.
During a special session at the EU Conference on Industrial Property Rights in the Internal Market, in Strasbourg, France, the ICC’s BASCAP launched the IP Guidelines for Business to provide information to businesses on practical steps that they can take to protect their own innovation and creativity in IP-based products and services, as well as to protect against the risk of using counterfeit materials or infringing other companies’ IP rights.
Copyright and branded goods are an important part of every modern economy. The most innovative and advanced sectors rely heavily on IP to support innovation in their own products and services.
The ICC/BASCAP IP Guidelines will help companies to assess the effectiveness of their IP management policies, and to consider new options for improving performance and managing the risks associated with counterfeiting and piracy.
The IP Guidelines deal with IP management in all its forms within companies, from IP development to component sourcing, manufacturing, wholesaling, retailing, relations with intermediaries and handling of third parties’ IP.
“Counterfeiting and piracy of copyright and branded goods are a $600 billion worldwide problem which hurts not only consumers but also businesses and the overall economy,” Vice President of Global Anti-Counterfeiting for Unilever and Co-Chair of the BASCAP Steering Committee Richard Heath said.
“Good laws and government enforcement are crucial to combat this problem, but there is a lot that businesses can do to protect their own creative and innovative products, and to avoid the risk that their supply chain or company operations have been compromised by infringing items,” he added.
“The IP Guidelines are designed to be useful to a wide range of businesses in different sectors, and are suitable to be tailored to deal more specifically with particular industries or sectors,” ICC Secretary General Guy Sebban explained.
“We hope the launch of the ICC-BASCAP IP Guidelines will introduce Forum participants and government officials to the guidelines and encourage the adoption of good IP management practices as part of corporate and public policies,” he continued.
“Respect for Intellectual Property helps to improve economic competitiveness. The global trade in fakes does exactly the opposite – it hurts consumers, businesses and the economy in every country,” Director, Knowledge-Based Economy, European Commission Margot Fröhlinger stated.
“Governments have an important role to play in combating counterfeiting and piracy, but we also welcome the ICC-BASCAP IP Guidelines and other efforts of the business community itself to manage and protect Intellectual Property more effectively,” Fröhlinger pointed out.
“I am extremely pleased that ICC and BASCAP will unveil new IP guidelines to help business to manage and protect Intellectual Property,” EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevey said.
“In addition to today’s public launch, an important part of the educational process is to distribute the IP Guidelines to companies around the world,” ICC’s BASCAP Coordinator Jeff Hardy noted.