The Emirates Intellectual Property Association (EIPA) recently met with the Brand Owners’ Protection Group for the GCC & Yemen (BPG) and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) about the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Signees include Major General Quddus Obaidli, president of the Emirates Intellectual Property Association, and Elie Atallah, chairman of the Brand Owners’ Protection Group. The signing ceremony was hosted at the Dubai Police Club Headquarters in Al Garhood. Representatives and leaders from the EIPA and BPG attended the event.
“EIPA’s vision is to see the UAE emerge as one of the world’s top countries in the area of intellectual property rights protection by 2021, and raise public awareness of the importance of IPR protection within the local community,” Obaidli said. “Therefore, we see this memorandum of understanding as a platform to achieve EIPA’s IPR strategic objective, improve the UAE’s IPR protection global ranking, promote local and international partnerships and strengthen cooperation with scientific research houses concerned with IPR protection.”
The goal is to streamline the two agency’s efforts to provide further protection for IPR against counterfeit products and illicit trade.
“Counterfeiting is increasingly posing great threat to consumers and negatively impacting government revenues, public health and legitimate businesses,” Atallah said. “Global numbers indicate that the total value of this cross-border activity, is set between eight percent to 15 percent of global GDP. Despite intense efforts of international organizations, governments and legitimate businesses to control such an illegal trade, the phenomenon continues to represent a latent threat to the global economy, causing brand owners and manufacturers the loss of millions of dollars in revenues every year, and most importantly, it poses great danger to the health and safety of consumers.”
