ALDE Seminar on Look-alike

Video summary of the ALDE Seminar "Look-alike: it's unfair play?"

Event dates: 10/06/06 to 10/06/08
Location: Room ASP 3G3, European Parliament, Brussels

Look-alike products are deliberately designed to avoid any infringements of intellectual property rights, at least in some Member States. There is no consistency across Europe in the application of the law. Therefore different jurisdictions will apply different rules in the same EU single market, making it difficult for the industry to operate in a predictable environment. A look-alike product will be allowed in some Member states and will be considered as a counterfeit in others.

A recent study on the "Effects of counterfeiting on EU SMEs" commissioned by DG Enterprise reveals that parasitic copying, also called look-alikes, represent the second source of concerns for SMEs regarding intellectual property rights infringements. The Green Paper on Counterfeiting and Piracy, the Enforcement Directive on
Intellectual Property all make references to this problem but without making clear recommendations, leaving a grey legislative area.

This debate will look at the impact for consumers, brand owners, distributors, the current legal situation, ways to improve it; taking into consideration the consumers’ right for the broadest, safest and cheapest choice of products.Our speakers will be representatives from the European Commission, Member State, consumers association, the industry - SMEs, retailers.

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For more information:
Spanneut Ophélie - Tel: +32 2 284 35 92

On ALDE Website:
http://www.alde.eu/index.php?id=42&no_cache=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=9531

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