Manila, April 24 and 25, 2012
Phommala NANTHAVONG
Deputy Director of Copyright Division
Department of Intellectual Property
Ministry of Science and Technology

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The Intellectual property was established in 1990 following an executive decision by the Council Ministries. The Department of Intellectual Property,
Standardization and Metrology under the National Authority for Sciences and
Technology (NAST) were in charge of the intellectual property matters in Lao
PDR.
Lao PDR joined WIPO in 1995
ASEAN Working Group on Intellectual Property Cooperation (AWGIPC) in
1997
Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property in 1998
Patent Cooperation treaty (PCT) in 2007
Since 1999 the Department of Intellectual property, Standardization and
Metrology is assigned by the Government to be the focal point for all
Intellectual Property management including Copyright issues.

DIP is committed to modernizing and strengthening IP system in order to harmonize with international trends, which Lao PDR is seeking to adhere in the future such as:
¾ the Bern Convention for the Protection of Literary and
Artistic Works
¾ the Rome Convention for the Protection of
Performers, Producers of Phonograms and
Broadcasting Organizations
¾ Particularly with TRIPS agreement so as to enable
Lao PDR to be member of WTO soon.

Intellectual Property Rights as well as
Copyright Protection are considered by the Lao
Government to be an important Policy for promoting Trade, Investment, Transfer of
Technology and Cultural Industry into Lao PDR.
So, that’s why more Comprehensive
Intellectual Property Law is very necessary and needed in my country.

The main strategy of our National Initiatives on Anti- piracy is:
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Hurry up to issue IP Law
Prepare to issue Decree and Regulations regarding the Copyright for implementing
¾ Organize awareness on Copyright and related right into Public and Private Sectors and formulate the curriculum for education system of different levels

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Set up the IP Enforcement System
Establish the Collective Management
Manage and Inspect illegal trade concerning to
IP Rights
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Develop Human Resources
Cooperate with International Organization concerned

In order to fulfill the above mentioned strategy, DIP has done some activities as following:
¾ We have submitted the first Lao IP Law to National
Assembly for consideration expecting to be approved
(Included to this IP Law one part is Copyright issue, which will be the basic legislation for Copyright activities in Lao PDR)
¾ The National Assembly have approved this Law
¾ We drafted Decree on Implementation of the
Intellectual Property Law

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We have organize Workshops and Seminars on IP Rights as well as Copyright provided by WIPO and DIP to Public and
Private sectors at Capital City and at Provincial level
We have celebrate WIPO day on 26 April since year 2000 in order to stimulate Public awareness on IP system and new creativeness of our people
As for Educational Institutions, we are submitting a project on training trainers for staffs from Ministry of Education, which we are finding Financial Resource to support this project. Moreover,
DIP has sent its staff on the request of some Institutions to be lecturer on IP system namely: National Police Academy, Faculty of Law, National University of Laos so on

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We organize the Board of line Ministries concerned to deal with
IP enforcement
There is only one association of authors, composers and producers that carrying out with the Copyright issue to protect of their works and their products from piracy activities
DIP has its Branch Office at all Province to deal the same activities, but in coordinating with DIP to manage and take measure action of illegal trade concerning to IP Rights
DIP has cooperated by joining of seminars, workshops, meeting and request for any assistance from AWGIPC, WIPO, EC-
ASEAN, USPTO, IPAustralia, JPO, JCO and so on

Enforcement System and Measures Agaist Infringemnet
DIP is the focal point for coordinating with Board of line Ministries to deal with IP enforcement. When we have received complaints and petitions from the owner of any IP Rights, we organize one or two time of meeting to make a joined decision and then assign their duty how to deal with. The main duty of line Ministries is as following
¾ Department of Custom under the Ministry of Finance to suppress the fraudulence of goods and piracy product at the border followed the notice for relevant case from our Board of line Ministries
¾ Department of Interior trade under the Ministry of Industry and
Commerce to issue the permission for legal trade and control of illegal trade

Enforcement System and Measures Agaist Infringemnet
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DIP under MST and Economic Arbitration Agency under the
Ministry of Justice to arrange administration measure that can be solved by mediation or arbitration
Department of Economic Police under the Ministry of Public
Security to suppress illegal trade and seize of counterfeit and
¾ piracy products
Chamber of trade and Industry to look for promotion of legal business practices
In some cases that we could not solve by our Board, we have to take legal action to the Prosecutor Office under the Public Prosecutor
Agency to study the judiciary and Prosecutor Office will report the overall context of relevant cases to the Court for final judgments.

In the digital environment, we recognize that the Copyright protection should be paid close attention, especially for enforcement system to break down the piracy products. One of our priority duties is to develop IP as well as Copyright system because we wish to speed up our economic, scientific and technical development.
Lao PDR hopefully requires more assistance and exchange of experiences from developed and developing countries as well as all International Organizations so as to identify how to achieve with this matter.