Dubai Customs benchmarks with FIFA on intellectual property

The Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Department at Dubai Customs received a delegation from the Intellectual Property Department of the International Football Association "FIFA", who visited the Department to learn more about its leading experience in intellectual property rights protection.

Dubai Customs enhances its efforts to protect intellectual property rights by sharing its leading experience in this field with international organisations and federations in various disciplines, so that they learn about increasing progress achieved by the Department in combating counterfeit goods and to raise awareness of its dangers to public health and its economic and environmental damages.

Yousef Ozair Mubarak, Director of IPR Department; Mohammed bin Nasser, Manager of IP Dispute Section; Saeed bin Faris, Head of Awareness and Education Section; and other member welcomed the delegation. The FIFA delegation included Daniel Zohni, Head of Intellectual Property; Raed Al Hout, Brand Protection Counsel; and Omar Obeidat, Partner and Head of Intellectual Property and Competition at Al Tamimi & Company.

Mubarak briefed the visiting delegation on Dubai Customs' strategy in intellectual property rights protection, and customs policies and work mechanisms applied to combat piracy and counterfeiting. He pointed out that the Department develops the capabilities of employees and inspectors in the field of intellectual property rights protection by organising awareness workshops with the participation of trademark owners who clarify the ways to discover infringements on their trademarks.

Mubarak also noted that Dubai Customs’ efforts aimed at protecting intellectual property rights stem from the need to address intellectual property infringements to preserve society and trademark owners’ rights.

"The Department organised 11 awareness events last year at schools and universities and eight community awareness events. In addition, ten workshops were organised to raise awareness of ways to identify counterfeit goods in cooperation with trademark owners. Total number of initiatives was 29 initiatives that targeted 2413 participants. The number of intellectual property dispute cases resolved by the department in 2021 reached about 390 cases with an estimated value of about AED14.8 million, and about 2.112 million pieces of counterfeit goods were recycled for 221 brands,"

he explained.

Daniel Zohni praised Dubai Customs’ efforts in combating counterfeit goods and the department’s coordination efforts with customs departments in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries within the framework of the Common Customs Law of the GCC countries.

At the end of the meeting, Zohni presented a trophy to the Department in appreciation of its efforts in combating intellectual property crimes.

News Source: Emirates News Agency