September 25, 2014
– HA NOI — Experts are gathering in Ha Noi for a three-day conference on using international law enforcement to control intellectual property crime.
Organised by Viet Nam’s Ministry of Public Security, the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) and the Underwriters Laboratories (UL), the event encouraged participants to share their experiences in combating IP crime.
Speaking at the opening ceremony on Tuesday, Deputy Public Security Minister Senior Lieutenant General Le Quy Vuong said trans-national IP crime not only harmed enterprises, but could also directly affect consumers’ health and human rights.
He said the prevention of IP crime required close and effective co-operation between law enforcement agencies as well as the pro-active involvement of businesses and customers—not just at the national level, but at the regional and global level too.
In Viet Nam, the issue of IP protection goes back to the country’s 1946 Constitution, which mentions copyright protection. The Law on Intellectual Property, adopted by the National Assembly in 2005 and put into effect in 2006, does much to extend legal protections to cover modern IP issues.
During the last few years, the country had joined and signed several international treaties on copyright and other IP rights, the Deputy Minister noted.
Head of the ministry’s Department of Anti-Crime, Police Lieutenant General Phan Van Vinh, said Vietnamese police would work closely with Interpol as well as domestic and foreign partners to fight international IP crime.
Deputy Minister Vuong met Singapore’s Deputy Secretary of Home Affairs, and former President of Interpol. Khoo Boon Hui, on the sidelines of the conference. He called on the Singaporean department to assist Viet Nam in training people and to share its experience in crime prevention.
At another meeting with UL president Keith Wiliams, Vuong said the intellectual property issue was relatively new to Viet Nam. He added that the country would benefit from the UL’s advice and assistance.
(VNS)