Re: Special Forces and Special Judges

On Wed, 21 May 1997, Jaime R. Angeles P. <j.angeles[_at_]codetel.net.do> wrote:
>
> On 20 May 1997, James Love <love[_at_]cptech.org> wrote:
> >
> > I just returned from a Belo Horizonte meeting of the Intellectual
> > Property Rights working group for the proposed FTAA (Free Trade Area
> > for the Americas). The software and movie people were quite aggressive
> > about the need for new "specialized intellectual property police units,
> > prosecutor pools, administrative agencies, and courts," as well as "ex
> > parte searches, injunctive relief" and other measures. During the
> > discussions, a person who represented Microsoft and the Business
> > Software Alliance (BSA) called for a "special forces" (police), special
> > judges and courts, and some way for private investigators to obtain
> > search warrants. This wasn't received too warmly by the Latin American
> > countries. Does anyone have any pointers to these plans? Any treaty
> > language in the FTAA will apply to the US as well, course. Jamie
>
> I was also in Belo Horizonte. In the United States it4s easy to say
> that maybe is unnecessary to have special courts for IPR because in
> USA the judges are well known and most of them respectable. In
> Latin America not in every country is like that. And that is why the
> need of specialized courts should be welcome.
>
> In Peru exists INDECOPI that has IPR courts, in Venezuela there is
> the COMANDO ANTIPIRATERIA formed by an interinstitutional effort
> (Public Prosecutor, Copyright Office, etc.), as an specialized force
> (for seizures) in the Dominican Republic a govermental commision was
> formed to propose an organization like INDECOPI, and also an
> interintitutional effort, and there are other examples in the
> Hemisphere.
>
> I do not think that the idea to treat IPR with specialized authorities
> and courts should be dismissed.

This may be a good example where there should be a "local option" for these special courts. In the US, there is no particular reason to trust Microsoft or the Business Software Alliance. And, there is lots of reasons NOT to trust private detectives and other folks.

Harold Federow
<hfederow[_at_]u.washington.edu> Received on Fri May 23 1997 - 21:07:56 GMT