His Excellency Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Executive Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone, the Director General of Dubai Customs has called for enforcing tighter punishments on the trademark violators, especially the violations that can compromise human life and health.
During his participation as representative of Dubai Customs in a seminar in Japan about means and tools of combating counterfeiting and piracy on 21 and 22 February as a response to an invitation from Japan External Trade Organization ‘‘JERTO’’, His Excellency said that Dubai Customs intensified its efforts in raising awareness about intellectual property to different society segments including judiciary and police members.
His Excellency, during the seminar which was attended by a number of senior officials and major company CEO’s, talked about the instruments adopted by Dubai Customs in combating the spurious products and protection of trademarks and the community as a whole from the danger of counterfeiting, explaining that Dubai Customs, in the Fourth Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy which came out with "Dubai Declaration", has underscored, in one of its recommendations, the importance of ruling out severe penalties against the violators at all levels. He stated that Dubai Customs has also recommended the proposal of establishing specialized courts in the UAE to see cases of IPR. In response, the Declaration’s outcomes gave the green light to the Ministry of Justice to proclaim the establishment of the court.
His Excellency, praised the excellent bilateral relations between Dubai and Japan, and highlighted that “Trade volume, between Dubai and Japan in the first nine months of 2011, grew to Dhs 20.6 billion, a 7% increase over the same period of 2010; while out of total 1480 international trade marks,125 Japanese trade marks are recorded with Dubai Customs. In coordination with legal competent agencies which are specialized in combating counterfeit and piracy activities, we make much efforts in ensuring protection of these brands”.
Dubai Customs delegation, which was headed by His Excellency, Ahmed Butti Ahmed, and included Mr. Abbas Makki, (acting) Executive Director of Dubai World and Director of External Relations, Mr Yousef Ozair Mubarak, Director of IPR Department, and Mr. Abdulla Al. Shaer, Director of Customs Intelligence Department visited on the first day the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Tokyo where they met with Mr. Satoshi Miyamoto Deputy Director-General, Manufacturing Industries Bureau. The delegation was briefed about the Ministry’s role in combating counterfeiting. HE Ahmed Butti, in the seminar that followed the visit, introduced Dubai Customs’ vision and future plans in how to fight piracy and counterfeiting, before a big group of company representatives, members at JETRO.
On the following day, the delegation attended the International Intellectual Property Protection Forum and replied questions and issues raised by big representatives of big companies which included Nissan, Toyota, Panasonic, Hitachi, and Canon. The participants in the forum discussed matters related to IPM, the system which has been introduced by WCO to enable inspectors use data and images of genuine products when suspecting counterfeits. The WCO is expected to train Dubai Customs’ employees on using the system.
The Customs’ delegation replied to all queries and questions raised during the forum, including the question about Dubai Customs electronic clearance system - Mirsal2, explaining that the operating companies and agencies related information are confidential and can’t be viewed in the website, the statistical and general information only can be seen by the public on Dubai Customs’ website.
On the other hand, His Excellency said: “Piracy has become a growing concern threatening security of nations and their economy; therefore, severe enforcement must be ruled out against the violators of IPR, especially, against the violators whose activities compromise people’s health and life’’.
In the days that followed the seminar and forum, the delegation made visits to Nissan Motors, Hitachi, Toyota Motors and Panasonic companies; they were briefed about the business activities of these international Japanese companies. Mr Ahmed Butti during the visit for these companies assured that Dubai Customs is always keen to protect the brands of these world companies which have overwhelming popularity and presence in the UAE. They also met with members’ from the legal advisor committee which is specialised in protecting the Japanese patents. The meeting was hosted by Hitachi at its headquarters. The delegation’s visit to Japan covered a number of cities such as Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Kyoto.