The participants were employees of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Customs Department in addition to a number of lawyers and legal experts and law professors.
In his address at the opening of the workshop, lawyer Mohamed bin Lahdan al-Hassan al-Muhannadi, chairman of Al Majd Law Firm, stressed that the topic of the workshop is of immense importance as protecting intellectual properties is considered vital for the progress of economy not only for the public and private companies but also for the national and global economy in general.
He pointed out that respecting intellectual property rights and protecting them would certainly lead to the growth of the various economic sectors while undermining these would certainly weaken the economies locally and internationally.
He said that in the vehicle industry in particular, the issue involves the protection of human life and safety, besides protecting creativity and innovation in the automotive field. He stressed that the protection of intellectual property rights in the automotive field is considered a guarantee of innovation and quality of the product.
Besides, it enhances fair market competition, where companies can pour their investment without the fear of loss due to counterfeit or stealing their design brands.
However, he stressed that the automotive industry faces immense challenges in regard to the protection of intellectual property rights, such as the sophisticated methods used by counterfeiters, which make it hard to distinguish between the original and counterfeited products.
In addition, differences in laws and legislations among different countries make it challenging to enforce unified procedures to counteract such fake products. He pointed out that international trade in counterfeited auto parts could be estimated at billions of dollars annually.
Al-Muhannadi said there are a number of solutions and recommendation to tackle the involved issues such as raising consumer awareness on how to spot counterfeit products, updating related laws and legislations to be more effective, co-operation among the stakeholders and governments, and holding international conventions in this regard.
The workshop included a hands-on training on some samples of Mercedes-Benz auto parts and how to identify the original parts and single out any counterfeit through various indicators.
Meanwhile, a panel discussion was held on the legal and regulatory solutions to combat infringements on the intellectual property rights, with a number of lawyers, academics and custom officials giving their views on the issue.
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