The World Customs Organization (WCO) and the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at strengthening their cooperation in their common fight against counterfeiting and piracy.

The MoU was signed by Kunio Mikuriya, Secretary General of the WCO, and António Campinos, President of OHIM, in London during the International IP Enforcement Summit on   11 June.

The WCO-OHIM MOU aims to enhance effectiveness and efficiency in the battle against counterfeiting through strengthened collaboration between the two Organizations, especially in three major areas: information technology, exchange of statistical data and exchange of expertise.

The envisaged activities will primarily focus on the harmonization of the anti-counterfeiting electronic systems developed separately by each organization: the WCO Interface Public-Members (IPM) and the OHIM Enforcement Database (ED), with the aim of ensuring that rights holders deciding to use both systems will have no need to input the same data or information twice.

Beyond affirming both Organizations’ willingness to cooperate in targeting counterfeiting and piracy, the MoU will facilitate the sharing of know-how and IT tools to eliminate unnecessary duplication of efforts and pool resources together in pursuit of better protection of intellectual property rights.