Dubai Customs IPR Runs Workshop to Combat Counterfeits

The Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Department of Dubai Customs organized a workshop to step up efforts aimed at fighting fake goods. The workshop was attended by 24 officers from Dubai Customs and other relevant government bodies across the UAE, as well as representatives of some intellectual property law firms.

The workshop is the third of its kind to be held since the beginning of this year 2017 with participants totalling 77 beneficiaries  from local and federal government entities.   

The event focused on measures undertaken by a host of famous international businesses to protect their trademarks. Agents from five companies lectured the audience with hands-on experiences about  what they do to safeguard their brands against counterfeiting and piracy activities. These were Fossil (watches), Philip Morris (cigarettes), Borg Warner (automotive technologies), Hindustan Pencils (stationery), and Lacoste.     

IPR presented a working paper by Mahbooba Baqer, head of Awareness and Education Section, who highlighted the concept of intellectual property and the procedures put in place by Dubai Customs to handle cases of trademark infringements.

Participants also learned about the techniques used by specialists to identify fake products from good ones. Law firms’ representatives presented common methods employed by intellectual property infringers to produce fake copies of genuine brands, and answered the audience’s questions on latest global trends in counterfeiting. 

Yousef Ozair, director of IPR Department, who opened the workshop, affirmed that Dubai Customs gives utmost attention to educating and raising awareness of customs and intellectual property staff in relevant government departments both within the UAE and across the GCC region.

“Dubai Customs is keen to join efforts with our partners and trademark owners in the business sector by organizing this kind of educational workshops to update concerned staff and professionals and provide them expert knowledge on the newest, ever-changing techniques counterfeiters and pirates often resort to and ways for clamping down on the illicit trade,” he said.