Anti-piracy display aims to alert public to perils of counterfeiting

In a move designed to educate consumers as to the extent of piracy in Venezuela, the Subcommittee Against Intellectual Property Infringement has created a travelling exhibition of pirated products created and sold in Venezuela.

The subcommittee, which is attached to the National Integrated Tax and Customs Administration Service (SENIAT), is showing the display to companies and organizations that are involved in intellectual property. For example, it was shown at the International Congress of Intellectual Property, which was held in honour of Dr Ricardo Antequera Parilli.

The display is part of an education programme being carried out by the subcommittee and SENIAT in order to alert organizations and the general public to the piracy taking place in Venezuela. It aims to:

• increase public awareness of counterfeit products;
  
  
• enable consumers to differentiate between counterfeit products and those made lawfully by rights holders; and
  
  
• alert them to the disadvantages of purchasing pirated products.

It is hoped that further initiatives like this will be carried out in the future. IP infringement should not only be dealt with through legislation, but also by raising public awareness regarding the negative consequences of the problem (eg, unemployment and tax evasion).

Cristina Galavís Sucre, Estudio Antequera Parilli & Rodríguez, Caracas