Piracy, illicit trade and counterfeiting issues to come under the spotlight of the first Arab IP Forum in Abu Dhabi

Announcing their participation and support of the two-day event, which is held under the patronage of Her Excellency Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi-UAE Minister of Economy, members of the Brand Owners Protection Group (BPG), a non-profit organization set up to fight illegal replication of genuine goods will be amongst a list of high profile keynote speakers at the event.

The Chairman of the BPG and the Regional Intellectual Property Advisor for Nestlé Middle East, Mr. Omar Shteiwi, said:

"Counterfeiting and Piracy activities are not only a violation of national and international laws and agreements that govern Intellectual Property Rights, but also have dire consequences on the economy and cause a direct loss to the countries Gross Domestic Production (GDP), losses in tax revenues, and loss in employment opportunities."

"At the moment there are no accurate official estimates of counterfeiting in the UAE as the figures are held by different Law Enforcement Agencies who are responsible for controlling counterfeiting across the country. In addition, an exact figure of its impact on the world Economy is difficult to measure; yet economic consequences of piracy and counterfeiting are very obvious," added Mr. Shteiwi.

Speaking at the forum, in addition to the BPG Chairman, Mr. Omar Shteiwi- Regional Intellectual Property Advisor for Nestlé Middle East- will be several members of BPG including Mona Madi, General Counsel, Unilever, Nasser Khasawneh and Nayiri Boghossian, Partners, Khasawneh & Associates, Legal Consultants, Omar Obeidat, Partner, Al Tamimi & Co., and Sara Holder, Lawyer, Rouse & Co. International.

BPG members include BAT, Black and Decker, Beiersdorf, BMW, Daimler, Estee Lauder, GM, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Kao Brands, Kraft, Master Foods, Nestle, Philip Morris, Philips, P&G, and Unilever.

The BPG has strong and close ties with the Ministry of Economy in matters related to combating counterfeiting and fighting illicit trade, in addition to supporting the enforcement of Intellectual Property rights. The BPG is working closely with the MOE and in April 2007 both parties jointly held a celebration of world IP day and a display of original and counterfeited products that ran parallel to the celebration, in a bid to create awareness for authentic products.

Arab Intellectual Property Forum will also address Electronic Commerce, IP and Arbitration matters relating to Cyber Crime Laws and exploitation of Domain names as well as the use of IP in Franchising and Brand Management techniques that build successful businesses.