COMMERCE and Industry Minister Gabriel Kapris will be pushing in Parliament for tougher penalties including deregistration of companies importing counterfeit products.
The minister said he was very concerned about the level of intellectual property abuse in the country.
He said news headlines had been taken out by owners of trademark goods over counterfeit goods being marketed, as well as confiscation of large amounts of counterfeit cigarettes destined for a well established retail chain, was an extremely worrying trend.
He said this issue had caught the attention of the Government, and tougher measures must be put in place to curb the rise in intellectual property rights (IPR) abuse.
“I will be exploring the possibilities of introducing legislative amendments in the intellectual property laws to prescribe tougher penalties to offenders in breach of IPR,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Mr Kapris said counterfeiting and piracy harmed commerce and the public’s well-being, and undermines confidence in the quality of brand name products, resulting in millions of kina in lost revenue, investment, future sales and growth opportunities.
“It also harms legitimate businesses and workers who play pivotal roles in creating, manufacturing, distributing and selling genuine products.”
 

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