On December 3-4, AmCham Serbia organized the

4th annual IPR Conference in Country Club Babe,

Kosmaj in Serbia. The conference key objectives

were to exchange regional experiences, address IP concerns and build awareness among the top gov-

ernment officials in Serbia. The conference put

emphasize on the enforcement of the IP laws and

underlined importance of regional cooperation.

Government representatives at

the conference

Serbia:

Ministry of Finance, Customs (10)

Tax Inspectors (6)

Ministry of Justice (1)

Prosecutors and judges (13)

Ministry of trade/market inspectors

(15)

IP office Serbia (3)

Ministry of Interior (9)

Ministry of Science (2)

Chamber of Commerce (2)

Anti Pirate Association (1)

Private sector: (30 – IPR Committee

members)

Non-government organizations (20+

participants)

Serbia: UNMIK Customs Service (2)

BIH: Customs office, and IP institute (9)

Montenegro: Customs and IP office – (4)

Albania: Customs (2) Bulgaria: Anti-Piracy Bullact office – (1)

Croatia: Customs (2)

During the final discussion at the conference,

the participants came out with the following

recommendations:

Legislation:

*Need to adopt Optical Disk Law.

*Recommended tougher fines on IP offenses.

*Recommended amendments on the Customs

Law in regards of IP protection.

*Harmonization of the regional IP legislation.

Enforcement:

*Need more efficient enforcement of the existing IP

laws; especially, in regards of the Law on

Special Powers. *Need capacity development, especially HR and

training on new technology.

*Need to form specialized units to combat IP of

offenses.

*Promoting and enhancing the regional cooperation

for IP protection domestically and abroad.

*Need improvement of the system for the collective

rights control (music industry).

*Need to have standardized and efficient procedures

for the destruction and recycling of the

pirated goods.

Over 130 guests from the region of Western Balkans (Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Alba-

nia) participated at the IP conference hosted by the IPR Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia.

AmCham Serbia Promotes Regional Cooperation in the

Balkans and Calls for Tougher IP Enforcement

Conference Summary

Regional IPR Conference in Serbia

American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia

A M C H A M S E R B I A December 3-4, 2007

P A G E 2

Discussing Software/Copyright Protection

Key Note Speakers at the Opening Ceremony Mr. Dejan Cvetkovic President of AmCham Serbia & Country Manager, Microsoft Serbia

H.E. Cameron Munter, the U.S. Ambassador in Serbia,

Mr. Vojislav Brajovic, Serbia’s Minister of Culture,

Mr. Miroslav Nikic, State Secretary of Serbia’s Trade, Tourism and Services Ministry,

Mr. Entoni Pahigijan, Deputy Head of Mission, OSCE in Serbia.

gridlock and

impeded effi-

cient prose-

cution in s u m m e r

2007. Fortu-

nately, this

has been

resolved in

N o v e m b e r

2007.

Microsoft’s

LCA for

CEE coun-tries, Chris

O l d k n o w

presented the

issues and

c h a l l e n g e s

s u r r oun d in g

enforcement and policy work in the re-

gion of CEE. During the panel discus-

sion that followed industry representa-

tives from Microsoft Serbia, Milomir

Ognjanović, Dragomir Kojić of BSA

Serbia, and Vladan Đurić, Manager of Autodesk Serbia presented practical case

studies and challenges combating piracy

in Serbia.

Although the piracy rate is still very

high in Serbia, there has been some

positive developments in the second part

2007 was politically turbulent in Serbia.

After the parliamentary elections there

was a delay in forming a new govern-ment. As a consequence, Serbia did not

have effective government before June

2007 and thus was not able to effi-

ciently persecute IPR offenders. Politi-

cians and Serbia’s administration is

mostly focused on Kosovo status deci-

sion. On the top of it, the issue of inter-

pretation of certain provisions of the

Penal vs. the Provisions governing

commercial offenses, also caused the

of this year. In December 2007 Tax In-

spectorate started, after a delay of one

year, started the enforcement of the Law

on Special Powers, which includes the provision designed to protect IPR hold-

ers in the software industry. Serbia’s tax

inspectors also agreed with BSA Serbia

to conduct a series of trainings on recog-

nizing of pirated software for all the tax

inspectors (over 1,000 inspectors). The

Office of Public Prosecutor, Ministry of

the Interior and the Ministry of Finance

now have clear responsibilities to act

accordingly.

Participation of the government officials

at the IPR Conference have shown that

there is a positive attitude and a con-

structive approach and motivation in the

rank of the Government to protect IPR in

Serbia. Member of BSA discussing anti-piracy strategies and presenting practical cases

from Serbia at the conference.

The ambassador Cameron Munter at the opening

ceremony

Dejan Cvetkovic, Cameron Munter and Vojislav Brajovic

at the cocktail

Vlada Djuric, manager of Autodesk Serbia

P A G E 3 D E C E M B E R 3 - 4 , 2 0 0 7

Day 1

Brand Protection Strategies in Tobacco Industry:

Andy Carter, Brand Protection Manager, Japan Tobacco International

Music Industry Confronting the Piracy - Stefan Krawczyk, Deputy Regional Director Europe, Director Middle

East & North Africa, The International Federation of the Phonographic

Industry (IFPI) – (Europe)

China’s IP Protection - A Case Study:

Anne Stevenson-Yang, Managing Director at the U.S. Information

Technologies Office (2003-2005)

Legislative Updates and the Implementation of the New Laws:

Jovan Jekić, Chief of Party, USAID funded-WTO Accession Project

Day 2

IP Protection of Software Industry in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE):

Chris Oldknow – LCA, Attorney for anti-piracy enforcement and pol

icy work in CEE, Microsoft (Great Britain)

Panel discussion: Practical Case Studies in the Software Industry in Serbia

Milomir Ognjanović, AP Manager (Microsoft Serbia), Dragomir Kojić, Lawyer (BSA Serbia)

Vladan Đurić, Manager, (Autodesk Serbia)

Practical Case Studies and Experiences in Film and Music Industry: Zoran Savić – Millenium Film (Serbia)

Velislava Dimitrova, Managing Director of the Bulgarian League

against Copyright Theft – protecting movie industry (Bulgaria)

Rodoljub Stojanović, Manager (Multimedia Records-Serbia)

Practical case studies and Experiences in the Industry of FMCG

Zoran Strsoglavec, Nike Brand Manager (Croatia)

Zoran Naumović, Legal Counsel to Procter & Gamble (Serbia)

Regional Experiences in IP Protection - discussions & presentations: Custom Officials (Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia & Serbia)

IP Offices (Bosnia & Serbia)

Serbian Persecutors & Serbian police

Guest Speakers and Issues Covered at the Conference

Serbian police (cybercrime unit) at the Conference

Steven Krawczyk of IFPI addressing the press

Albanian custom officials and Chris Oldknow,

Microsoft LCA at the conference.

Zoran Strsoglavec of Croatia, NIKE’s Brand

Manager, displays fake Nike shoes.

Jovan Jekić, Chief of Party of the

USAID-WTO Accession Project is debating the enforcement issues

with Serbian tax inspectors

Andy Carter, Brand Protection manager at JTI talks about ciga-

rette smuggling in the Balkans

Contact info: IPR Committee

American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia Vlajkoviceva 30/III,

11 000 Belgrade, Serbia Tel: (+381 11) 334 59 61 Fax: (+381 11) 324 77 71

E-mail: info@amcham.yu; Website: http://www.amcham.yu

AmCham Serbia IPR Committee promotes the

fundamental need for Intellectual Property Pro-

tection in Serbia by actively engaging in resolv-ing the IP issues and advocating for necessary

legislation and IP law enforcement measures.

The Committee mission is to:

Advocate for an effective legislative

framework Advocate for efficient enforcement of

existing IP Laws

Support education programs to increase IP awareness in Serbia

Milomir Ognjanovic,

The Chairman of the AmCham IPR Committee

AmCham Serbia is an independent, private business organization represent-ing over 170 member companies and organizations with total investments of over five billion dollars and that employ over 50,000 people in Serbia. AmCham Serbia promotes American best business practices, values and re-sponsible partnerships between the U.S. and Serbia, leading to economic development through trade and investment.