Commercial fraud costs UAE Dh500m a year

Commercial fraud costs the UAE Dh500 million a  year and counterfeit automobile spare parts, cosmetics, electric appliances and tobacco account for much of the fraud, according to experts.

They urged the UAE authorities, particularly customs, to make greater efforts to protect trademarks, patents and copyrights. UAE ranks No.1 in the Arab world and No.30 globally in intellectual property rights (IPR) protection.

The experts were discussing “Counterfeit products and their economic impact” in the Rouh Al Qanoon (Spirit of the Law) programme presented by  lawyer Eisa bin Haider on Radio  Noor Dubai.

Dr Abdul Qaddus Al Obaidli, head of IPR protection in UAE, said “IPR protection stimulates innovation, reduces money laundering and strengthens the UAE’s ties with leading industrialised countries and creates thousands of jobs.”

Dr Al Obaidli said 18 million Americans were working in the field of intellectual property. US intellectual property is valued at $5 trillion.

He said, according to the World Health Organisation, 10 per cent of medicines sold all over the world are counterfeit which costs the drug companies $46 billion a year.

The losses of software companies annually is about $35 billion due to piracy.

Dr Abdul Rahman Al Muaini, secretary-general of Emirates Association for Protection of Intellectual Property, stressed the importance of trademark protection.

He said Emirates airline’s trade mark is  valued at $3.6 billion, Etisalat at  $3 billion and Google at $44 billion.

Al Muaini said the current penalty in the UAE for IPR violation is imprisonment for three months and a fine of not more than Dh0.5 million. The penalty is doubled to six months imprisonment for repeated violations.

Dr Al Obaidli and Dr Al Muaini called for a common GCC law to combat commercial fraud and to remove ambiguities in IPR laws currently in force in the Gulf states.

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