Anti-counterfeiting service activated at Mido

Daniela Mainini, the lawyer at the head of the Anti-counterfeiting Service, is at the exhibition and she answered our questions about the characteristics and aims of the service.

First and foremost, congratulations on your recent appointment as President of the National Anti-Counterfeiting Committee (CNAC) by the Minister for Economic Development.

What is CNAC and what will it do under your presidency?The National Anti-Counterfeiting Committee is an inter-ministerial organization introduced with the Law of July 23, 2009, and included in art. 145 of the Italian Industrial Property Code with the function of addressing, motivating and coordinating the actions taken by each administration to improve the overall strategies for fighting counterfeiting at national level. The Committee has set itself the not simple, but essential, task of coordinating the anti-counterfeiting actions taken by ten ministries so that the conclusion of the various initiatives, which are often implemented but not coordinated among the various interfaces and stakeholders, will be improved in order to avoid the pointless expenditure of material resources and professional energy. This is primarily what my presidency will be devoted to: so that we stop cultivating “small gardens” of skills for protecting IP and carry out the transversal investigation of an issue that needs to be observed and global communication that takes into consideration the various environments that have been affected by the counterfeiting virus. In short: different instruments for each sector but one large institutional orchestra. The appointment I was honored to receive from Minister Romani ideally closes my twenty-five-year professional career of protecting intellectual property and I am also pleased about the recent appointment to the National Committee of the Hon. Santo Versace, a sign of the institutional desire to protect Made in Italy throughout the world.

You are one of Italy’s leading experts on the fight against counterfeiting. What face does counterfeiting have today and what are its main dangers?Counterfeiting affects all product categories, but many still believe that it is a phenomenon peculiar to the fashion and luxury segments. Because of new technologies, counterfeiters can quickly put products on the market that are increasingly similar to the originals, but lack quality and safety. The face of counterfeiting is global with triangulation that is both hazardous and extremely profitable. Counterfeiters are aware of the risks, but they also know about the easy money to be made from this business. Counterfeiting increases criminality, diminishes internal revenues and reduces employment.

 
How big is the phenomenon in general and in the eyewear industry? What risks are involved with counterfeit eyewear?
Data confirm that 52% of the counterfeit products confiscated by operations carried out by the Guardia di Finanza (Tax Police) and the Agenzia delle Dogane (Customs Office) are clothing accessories (including eyewear, for which there is only an aggregate figure at the moment). In 2010, the value of the goods confiscated in Italy was 1,715,000,000 euros. Every year, counterfeiting deprives the eyewear sector of about 15% of the market, a reduction in billings of 75-100 million euros for Italian companies in the sector. The danger of counterfeit eyewear directly concerns the health of consumers (e.g. the lack of UV protection in sunglasses).

Given the dangers, what tools can be used to fight counterfeiting?
First and foremost, information for consumers: it is a well-known fact that consumers take an active role in purchasing products and, therefore, also cheap counterfeit eyeglasses. We must start with informing buyers that what they buy feeds the same chain that sells drugs to our children and then hit them with adequate fines that must be taken seriously.As regards companies, a strict production and distribution chain must be organized. Lastly, companies must constantly participate in actions by law enforcement agencies as they need the contribution primarily of those whose industrial patent rights have been infringed.

 
Is Italy more advanced than the rest of the world? Which countries are better at fighting counterfeiting and could give us suggestions?
I would say that Italy is very much better at making laws than it is at applying them. What I mean is that the Italian anti-counterfeiting regulation framework with the recent legislative amendments is satisfactory and better than that of other countries where the phenomenon is, however, less evident. What must be underscored is a certain difficulty in applying it, especially in criminal courts where there is still a lack of specialized judges who feel uneasy about handling rights that are considered as protecting only a few. I would take some lessons from Germany for application efficiency, from the United Kingdom and Holland for the quality of the decisions, from France, but not for the determination of damages for which I would rather make reference to the United States. However, not without emphasizing that in the latter case and in the United Kingdom the legal costs are very high.
 
You have told us, and Mido has been doing it for years, that counterfeiting is also fought at exhibitions. What are the features of the anti-counterfeiting service?
Mido has certainly shown unparalleled far-sightedness in tackling the issue of protecting intellectual property for over fifteen years at the exhibition. I believe that I am a “historical memory” of how the service has made the changes necessary for its correct implementation. It has gone from being an exclusively information-oriented service for exhibitors to a real regulation for intervention during the few days of the exhibition. The proof of infringements found at the exhibition, targeted intervention, help and support for external professionals, are excellences that are certainly Made in Mido. The intervention of the Ministry for Economic Development stand in the Counterfeiting Free area next to the Customs and Certottica is a tangible sign of a service that is made to measure for exhibitors.

Lastly, some advice for companies and end consumers on how to fight counterfeiting.
For companies my advice is to look after their intangible property, their brands, patents and models, in the same way as their tangible assets. I am profoundly convinced that the value of intangibles has never been so tangible. They are a resource that companies must learn to recognize and protect. If the appropriate internal personnel is lacking, the job should be handed over to the experts in the sector without improvising protection.
For consumers, use reliable stores and avoid imprudent purchases that put eye health at risk and are not very safe, to say nothing of the heavy fines that, I hope, will soon be applied more efficiently.