HARARE - The 13th Intellectual Property Crime Conference held under the theme ‘Fighting IP Crime through Innovation & Cooperation’ was recently held in Cape Town, South Africa, according to the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO).

The Conference objective was on equipping Intellectual Property Crime Investigators with the necessary knowledge and skills required to plan, deploy and manage successful interventions into the activities of transnational organized intellectual property crime in partnership with other stakeholders. The South Africa Minister of Police, Hon General Bheki Cele, officially opened by the Conference.

Some of the topics tackled during the Conference included: Cross agency cooperation: Innovative ideas; digital security; transnational enforcement; innovative solutions for free trade zones; food defenses; converting data into actionable intelligence; leveraging technology that facilitates learning in capacity building programs; understanding cryptocurrencies; strategies to address ‘bad actors’ in the online environment.

The Director General of ARIPO, Fernando dos Santos, addressed the Conference in the first panel on ‘Cross-Agency Cooperation: Innovative Ideas’ and illustrated the ARIPO initiatives on capacity building and awareness creation on IP enforcement. The Director General also participated actively in the operational workshop on ‘Capacity Building: Leveraging Technology that Facilitates Learning’ and on the pre-conference workshop on the ‘African Regional Training Workshop’ organized by the International IP Crime Investigators College.

Participants of the Conference emphasized the cryptocurrencies role that capacity building and awareness creation can play in the fight against IP crime. Two areas were considered critical in future actions: food defense and preventing counterfeiting of medicines.