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U.S. Trains Nigeria Customs on Intellectual Property Enforcement
(AllAfrica.com Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) The Nigeria Customs Service has become the beneficiary of a three-day training programme on intellectual property enforcement at Nigeria's borders and ports organised by the United States' Mission in Nigeria in collaboration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The training also focused on health aspects of intellectual property enforcement.
According to a statement from the United States Mission in Nigeria, more than 250 officials from the Nigeria Customs Service were trained in the three-day programme.
The training, it noted, took place at the SEME border with Benin, the Apapa port, and the Murtala Mohammed International Cargo Airport in Ikeja, while training instructions focused on practical issues related to the dangers of counterfeit health and safety products, detection of counterfeit shipments, and seizure and investigation of illegal goods. The workshop also emphasised the importance of Customs in enforcing existing intellectual property laws, while an official of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) provided Customs officials information about NAFDAC-regulated products. As part of the training, seven private industry stakeholders also presented information about their products and copyrights and explained how Customs officers could work with companies to detect counterfeit shipments.
The mission noted that the training of the Customs officials builds on previous programs that the United States has organised on intellectual property (IP) enforcement in Nigeria, including an April 2009 seminar on criminal enforcement of intellectual property in the health and safety sector, a January 2008 seminar on intellectual property with Nigerian judges in Abuja, a June 2008 workshop on trademark policy and enforcement of intellectual property rights, and an August 2008 conference on optical disc enforcement.
"The U.S. Mission in Nigeria will continue to cooperate with Nigeria on copyright enforcement and will plan additional intellectual property rights training courses based on this successful training event, and our mutual interests in advancing the protection of intellectual property rights," the mission promised.
(c) 2009 AllAfrica Global Media. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company
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