Kathmandu, January 30:

Law enforcement agencies’ apathy has killed two people and left several blinded. The market is flooded with fake drugs but they have no clue as to the protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), experts said here today.

Speaking at the ‘National Workshop on Intellectual Property Strategy for Nepal’ organised by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and supported by the American embassy and Microsoft, they blamed lack of awareness among stakeholders and consumers, lackadaisical approach of law enforcers and lack of strict legal provisions to tackle such incidents. Law enforcement angencies should be trained in IPR as it’s a technical issue,” opined experts.

“Though there are some acts — like Copyright Act — to protect manufacturers’ and consumers’ rights, these need reform,” said Supreme Court registrar Dr Ram Krishna Timilsina. He added the present law was not strong enough to punish those involved in churning out fake products and causing irreversible damage to others. “Policy intervention is a must in such cases to protect the rights of consumers and the manufacturers,” Timilsina said.

FNCCI president Kush Kumar Joshi said Nepal was lagging behind in implementation of IPR. “Industries are hit due to lack of a proper action plan,” he said.

Nepali IP laws need harmonisation in accordance with international laws and World Trade Organsiation (WTO) policy for preparing a national strategy to crack down on fake and pirated products.

“If IPR is monitored, Nepal’s indigenous industries can be saved,” said Randy Berry, Charge D’ Affairs of the American embassy. He voiced serious concern over the fake medicines flooding in the market saying that these could cause a huge loss of human lives. “Around 60 per cent of the medicines in the domestic market is fake,” he said adding that if IPR was properly addressed, health and education — basic human rights — could be protected.

Today’s workshop was a follow-up of last year’s Global Intellectual Property Rights Academy’s conference in 2008. The workshop formed a draft of a National Action Plan to protect IPR — creations of the mind, inventions, literary and artistic works, scientific works, symbols, names and images used in the industry, commerce and communication sectors, said Birat Thapa, chairman of the ICT Development Unit of FNCCI. Participants were of the view that awareness, enforcement and legislation are essential to the protection of IPR.