Piracy and counterfeiting should be made unprofitable to protect IPR: Customs official

Emphasises on strengthening information sharing between business stakeholders and law enforcement agencies to curb piracy and counterfeiting

Piracy and counterfeiting should be made unattractive and unprofitable to protect the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) ecosystem, said a senior Customs official of Ahmedabad Customs Commissionerate on Thursday.

"Piracy or counterfeiting should be made unprofitable and unattractive. If counterfeiting of goods and services is made unattractive instead of physical guarding of borders, it would die its own death," said Captain Sanjay Gahlot, Commissioner, Commissionerate of Customs, Ahmedabad.

He was delivering the keynote address at the launch of IPR tool kit for Customs officials jointly organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Business Software Alliance (BSA).

He also emphasized on strengthening information sharing between business stakeholders and law enforcement agencies to curb piracy and counterfeiting.

"If information sharing between business stakeholders and law enforcement agencies is strengthened, it can be embedded into the risk management system of Customs department, which can aid in curbing or deterring piracy and counterfeiting operations," said Gahlot.

Headquartered in Washington,BSA is a software industry body working in 80 countries to expand software markets. Its members include Adobe, Apple, HP India, Microsoft and Symantec among others.

The launching of IPR tool kit for Customs officials is the outcome of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between FICCI and BSA to collaborate on creating awareness amongst SMEs and other enterprises regarding the risks of IP rights infringement. In the first phase of the partnership, the campaign is being rolled out in Gujarat and Rajasthan with capacity building workshops for the law enforcement agencies

As per BSA Global Software Piracy Study 2011, piracy in software caused a loss of $866 million to India.

Yolynd Lobo, director, BSA said that they are also working on a similar tool kit for police and judiciary, which would be launched next month, to protect IPR gaps in the system and measures regarding what needs to be done to fix these gaps.