Wednesday 15 December 2010

Anonymous

COUNTERFEITING IN NIGERIA: A GROWING MENACE! (?)

The above was the subject matter of the 2nd annual workshop by the Anti-Counterfeiting Collaboration (ACC) and the International Trademarks Association (INTA) held in Lagos, Nigeria on the 27th October 2010. The workshop had as its aim, the tackling of the issue of counterfeit goods in the Nigerian market and discussing means and ways to alleviate these problems.

The workshop was divided into three sessions:

  1. The Brand Owners Perspective
  2. General Overview and the Regulators Perspective
  3. The Bar and the Bench perspectives

Speeches and presentations were given by a number of influential individuals in the Nigerian I.P society, including lawyers, judges and brand owners alike. As well as that, a number of foreign guest speakers were in attendance. Most notably, the workshop was chaired by Tee Mac Omatsola Iseli and a speech was given by Victor Guizar of the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

A number of opinions were given through the course of the one day workshop including reasons for the growth in the presence of counterfeit goods in the country, i.e. there is a high demand because they are cheaper and in some cases more easily accessible than their original counterpart. Ideas for reform were also given including the need for more laws to be put in place, better implementation of the laws and more collaboration between agencies who have anti-counterfeiting as their mandate.

Although it was agreed that all the speakers were specialists in their field and full of sound legal and industrial opinions, in my opinion, the cause for concern lies in the aftermath of the event. Two issues come to mind.

First of all, before the close of the event, the view was expressed that it would be disappointing if after the session, no further actions were taken by the ACC and its members and it was stated that something should be put in place to ensure that the actions in the communiqué were taken in a timely fashion. This writer remains hopeful that the reforms suggested will indeed be carried out, and soon.

Secondly, as an attendee of the event, I was encouraged by the number of industry insiders who were willing to speak out on their opinions of the cause of the rapid spread of counterfeit goods in Nigeria; they must be commended for their efforts on the day. What wasn’t encouraging was the minor number of participants who were in attendance just out of interest. One could argue that perhaps the event wasn’t well enough publicized but I feel that the issue of counterfeit goods is still seen as being relatively low on the priority scale and a one- day workshop to discuss the ways to alleviate the problem isn’t enough to get people out of their office (even if there is free lunch involved).

Raising awareness is the current priority of organisations such as the ACC and this writer is full of praise for their efforts. I personally feel that more initiatives such as the ones by the ACC are fully needed.

Readers may have noticed the presence of (?) in the title of this posting and the reason is this, i am putting the question to you. So what exactly do you the readers think? Do you think events such as this are useful in raising awareness of the growing menace of counterfeit goods in Nigeria, and also in Africa as a whole?

Anonymous

Anonymous

Subscribe via email (you'll be added to our Google Group)

2 comments

Write comments
Ladylawyer
AUTHOR
15 December 2010 at 18:22 delete

I think the only way Nigeria can come out of this mess is not only to have more strict laws put in place, but it should ensure that the sale or purchase of counterfeit goods by anybody, should be a punishable offence without the option of fine or a very huge fine imposed at that. a special task force should also be set up to be on the look out for counterfeit goods at every border as well as the local markets. This menace of counterfeiting will be eradicated i forsee. slowly but surely.

Reply
avatar
Anonymous
AUTHOR
20 December 2010 at 01:42 delete

I 'm of the opinion that event such as this do create awareness on the dangers of anti-counterfeiting.
There is saying that "a problem known is a problem half solved"when people are aware of the danger of anti-counterfeiting on a personal level for eg purchasing of a fake drug,no matter how cheap might kill them they will make a concious effort to buy the original of that drug.
This seminars and workshops not only serve as an enlightenment vehicle but they also proffer solutions to the problem believe with events like this we will surely rid Nigeria of this menace.

Reply
avatar