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Industrial Property crimes online complaint tool
Portuguese Industrial Property Office
Portugal

The Problem

. Counterfeiting is a growing phenomenon on a global scale.
. The fight against counterfeiting and piracy represents a key element and a top priority in a political perspective.
. The anti-counterfeiting fight can only be done with collaboration and share of information and experience.
. It was necessary to create a website exclusively dedicated to the anti-counterfeiting fight in order to raise the public awareness around this relevant subject.
. There was no specific public authority dealing with this issue, so the need for coordination among them was high.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
. It is now possible to an individual, enterprise or other organization to file an online complaint concerning an Intellectual Property Rights crime, using digital signature.
. The “Online Complaint System” is available through the "Portuguese Anti-Counterfeiting" Website, which was created specifically for anti-counterfeiting activities.
. The "Portuguese Anti-Counterfeiting" Website is available both in Portuguese and English.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
. The “Online-Complaint System” is operated through the cooperation of several governmental organizations, members of the “Anti-Counterfeiting Group”, which is composed by several Portuguese institutions: Civil Polices (city and rural areas), Judiciary Police, Economic Police, Customs and the IP Office (INPI).
. The new system benefits not only the right holders and misled consumers, but also all individuals that want to share useful information in a simple and fast way.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
. The "Online Complaint" is one of the Portuguese Anti-Counterfeiting Group projects
. The conception of the website and the management of the "Online Complait System" are done by the Portuguese Anti-Counterfeiting Group.
. The group required external IT assistance.
. The main objective of this project is to promote the cooperation between public organizations and the different stakeholders.
. Simultaneously the promotion of the “Online-Complaint System” will also promote a more coordinated information exchange.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
. The project started in 2008;
. The "Online Complaint System" was lauched in 2010
. In 2011 a global communication strategy to promote the “online complaint system” and simultaneously the "Anti-Counterfeiting Website" will be launched.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
A lack of prior experience initially presented challenges to the working group. Several beta versions were subject to continuous tweaking and improvement.

These problems were overcome with the experience acquired by all stakeholders during the development phase.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
The initiative relied upon internal human resources of the members of National "Anti-counterfeiting Group" for content and layout, and IT infrastructure (hardware). For the IT development a specialized webdesign company was contracted.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
. The "Online-Complaint" system is currently the most simple and fast way of filing a complaint concerning Intellectual Property Rights crimes.
. Through the use of the online-complaint is now easier to coordinate efforts and to react, giving a quick response to the given information.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
. The Portuguese Anti-Counterfeiting website is currently working as an information center, where anti-counterfeiting information can be easily accessed.
. The "Online-Complaint" is the result of a successful coordinated initiative, with the participation of different public entities, with different know-hows and different backgrounds.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Portuguese Industrial Property Office
Institution Type:   Public Agency  
Contact Person:   Leonor Trindade
Title:   President  
Telephone/ Fax:   00 351 218818100
Institution's / Project's Website:   00 351 218883720
E-mail:   leotrindade@inpi.pt  
Address:   Campo das Cebolas
Postal Code:   1149-035
City:   Lisbon
State/Province:  
Country:   Portugal

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