Taking intellectual property rights seriously

AN intellectual property is a property in all features the term ‘property’ stands for. The features which include owning, transferring, offering rights and obligations, violation of rights, remedying in violations are also available in the case of an intellectual property. The tasks of preservation and protection of property rights are with the law enforcement agencies (LEAs) be it a corporeal (ordinary) property or an intellectual (incorporeal) property. The LEAs carry out their functions of preserving and protecting property rights by adopting prevention and cure methods. The prevention method is the technique of modern proactive policing flourishes on the idea that crime should be prevented from taking place in the first place by capacity building and raising social awareness. This method is made quite useful regarding intellectual property related matters in western countries. In Bangladesh, the LEAs’ achievement in proactive policing in the field of intellectual property is not visible although they have a commendable performance in responding to any complaint concerning intellectual property violation. The number of police personnel and logistics that LEA’s uses are quite figure-hugging compared to the population in Bangladesh. However, to the best of the knowledge, the training modules of the LEAs or their working manual do not have specific reference to intellectual property issues. For an example, the websites of the LEAs or their strategic plan 2012-2014 do not contain anything about intellectual property. This negligence is partly attributed to the lack of awareness among the LEAs and partly to the country’s general economic condition.
Like other property rights, intellectual property rights are also rights enjoyed by private individuals or institutions, the end result of its violation or infringement may also affect the public and state affairs. For example, a fake medicine made by an unlicensed company may cause serious harm to public health, or gross violation of trademark standards may erect a barrier against foreign investment in the country. The LEAs, as parts of state machinery are set to protect intellectual property rights by preventing intellectual property theft. In performing their duties, the LEAs in other jurisdictions take on the methods of modern proactive policing which focuses on preventing the crime before it happens rather than remedying afterwards.
In addition, intellectual property rights are a kind of stimulus to the creativity of people and it significantly boosts the country’s economic prospects by preserving the rights and engaging more people in creative works, research and development. Bangladesh as a member of the international community and as a country of making a creative environment is firmly committed to assure the intellectual property of creators and inventors are fully protected by ensuring a strong regulatory framework. As the role of LEAs are to prevent intellectual property theft, discovering and seizure of counterfeit goods, a clear knowledge of national intellectual property regime will help them in the operation. Currently, the agencies respond to a breach of intellectual property only after a complaint is lodged, but the changing nature and the threat of the crime will require, in future, surveillance and taking preemptive action before the crime comes off. To deal with the multitude modes of intellectual property violations effectively, the members and officers of the LEAs in other jurisdictions usually take special training in intellectual property.  Reason behind the special training is the unconventional character of the intellectual property crime than any other crimes that the agencies habitually deal with.
Furthermore, as part of the proactive policing, the LEAs are involved with different outreach programs including awareness-raising initiatives. This outreach program which aims to educate and aware people are largely depends on its ability to aptly choose the targeted audience group. In the case of Bangladesh, if we can make our people understand and appreciate the value of intellectual property and motivate their own sense of creativity by rewarding them in some way, we can successfully instill in them, an appreciation of what intellectual property is and why it is important. This sensibility will eventually contribute in reduction of crime in the society at large.
The initiatives to be taken by the LEAs can be divided into two parts:
1.    Awareness within Agencies.
2.    Public awareness-raising initiatives taken by the agencies.
As intellectual property related crimes are increasing in the country and trans-national threats to intellectual property theft are posing national security at risk, the capabilities of the LEAs should also be developed to deal with these crimes. Members of the LEAs who work directly with intellectual property related issues and other members in general should be educated in intellectual property matters. They should have clear understanding of national and international intellectual property laws, and how rights in intellectual property are created and protected through copyright, patent, trademark, and other related rights.
As part of awareness building, the LEAs must arrange periodic training programs aiming to educate their officials in intellectual property. These training programs may be conducted by internal instructors or with the help from external resource persons. Additionally, these training programs can be organised jointly with other public and private authorities to share the experience and expertise in an inter-agency basis.
The agencies may initiate public outreach programs specifically aiming at intellectual property issues. These initiatives may use standard communication tools such as: campaign, brochure/guides, competitions, exhibitions, helpline, essay competitions, media coverage, school visit, social media etc. The increasing appeal of social media as an effective communication tool can be used by the LEAs to create and grow public awareness in intellectual property. To create awareness about intellectual property crimes, our LEAs can publish information regarding intellectual property rights matters on their website, and the statistics on intellectual property related crimes in a different category rather than “other” category which render it impossible to get any clear picture.
Therefore, by providing sufficient information of intellectual property as a different category either in office records or in the website, the LEAs can vitally improve their policing consistent with government’s promise to e-governance and citizen’s right to information. In addition, the LEAs must bear in mind that intellectual property rights which are private rights and if these rights are infringed then it will affect the public and state affairs. So, in order to ensure effective intellectual property rights regime, the LEAs should adopt the methods of growing intellectual property rights awareness as part of modern proactive policing.

The writer is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Dhaka.