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Project No.

CTI 02 2019

Project Title

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Digital Content Trade

Project Status

Project in Implementation

Publication (if any)

Fund Account

General Project Account

Sub-fund

None

Project Year

2019

Project Session

Session 1

APEC Funding

78,777

Co-funding Amount

33,650

Total Project Value

112,427

Sponsoring Forum

Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI)

Topics

Trade Facilitation

Committee

Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI)

Other Fora Involved

Other Non-APEC Stakeholders Involved

Proposing Economy(ies)

Russia

Co-Sponsoring Economies

China;Hong Kong, China;Korea;Mexico;Philippines;Chinese Taipei;Viet Nam

Expected Start Date

01/10/2019

Expected Completion Date

31/12/2020

Project Proponent Name 1

Patvakan Giulazian (wef 12 January 2021)

Job Title 1

Not Applicable

Organization 1

Department for Trade Negotiations, Ministry of Economic Development

Postal Address 1

Ovchinnikovskaya nab, 18/1 Moscow, Russia

Telephone 1

(7-495) 8708700 Extension 1178

Fax 1

Not Applicable

Email 1

zvegincevado@economy.gov.ru

Project Proponent Name 2

Not Applicable

Job Title 2

Not Applicable

Organization 2

Not Applicable

Postal Address 2

Not Applicable

Telephone 2

Not Applicable

Fax 2

Not Applicable

Email 2

Not Applicable

Declaration

Patvakan Giulazian

Project Summary

Digital economy is key phenomena at the current stage of global development. The ability of consumers and businesses to reach the Internet and to engage in digital content trade and e-commerce is increasing rapidly. But so is the vulnerability of creations on the Internet in the absence of IPR protective mechanisms. With the introduction of digital content trade, IPR content has even become more complex and protection more difficult. With developments in information technology (IT), it has become easy to copy or alter digital information. Thus, there are challenges to protecting intellectual property in the digital environment that need to be tackled timely at both domestic and international level. APEC economies’ efforts should also be focused on the development of transparent and efficient regulatory environment which enables trade in digital content and related business activities while ensuring that intellectual property rights are respected. With an aim to figure out above-mentioned potential challenges and find out potential ways to address them, including through reviewing existing regulatory framework and APEC economies’ best practices in the area of protection of IPR in digital content trade, a respective workshop will be arranged in the first half year of 2020 in (Moscow, Russia) (TBC).

Relevance

Relevance – Region: The development of the digital economy and rise of the Internet have significantly changed the content trade patterns. Information and communication technology (ICT) opened the opportunities to lower distribution costs and enlarge the market for content-related businesses, including Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) statistics, key segments of content market (such as video, audio and texts) exhibited strong growth and surpassed similar physical segments of the market recently.

At the same time Internet creates a number of challenges for content producers. Violation of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) is one of the key impediments for regional trade in digital content. Companies, especially MSMEs, are often confronted with the lack of information about the guarantees for the protection of their rights in digital environment. Sharing of domestic experiences will help to facilitate better understanding by the governments and businesses, including MSMEs, of the regulatory framework of the member economies in this sphere, as well as by reviewing existing global regulatory framework and APEC economies’ best practices in the area of protection of IPR in digital content trade. The project will help to identify the main challenges experience regarding the issue of IPR protection in Digital environment.

A number of significant analytical and regulatory initiatives have been introduced by international fora, including World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), World Trade Organization (WTO), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), World Bank. At the same time, APEC region plays an important role in the digital content trade both in terms of digital content supply and demand. Thus, APEC economies’ individual and joint efforts are needed to ensure regional enabling regulatory environment for the content-related business in APEC region while respecting intellectual property rights.

Relevance – Eligibility and Fund Priorities: This project directly relates to GPA funding priorities as following:

- Digital Society

- Strengthening Inclusive Growth through Structural Reform and by Increasing Opportunities for Women and MSMEs

- Improving Connectivity and Deepening Regional Economic Integration (Integration 4.0)

Relevance – Capacity Building: APEC developing economies play an important role in digital content trade both in terms of digital content supply and demand. Due to rapidly evolving trade agenda, the existing regulatory environment doesn’t fully take into account current challenges in ensuring IPR protection and enforcement in digital content trade. As far as some APEC economies have already experienced developing regulations in this area, a capacity building seminar aimed at information and experience sharing would be usefull in this regard. This project is aimed to address particular needs of businesses, including MSMEs, to protect their IPR in the digital environment and help APEC economies, to build capacity for IPR protection in digital content trade by sharing experience and best practices in this sphere.

Objectives

- To examine existing challenges APEC economies are facing in the field of IPR protection in digital content trade;

- To facilitate better understanding among APEC economies of how the issues relating to IPR protection in digital content trade are regulated on international, regional and domestic level; and

- To review APEC economies’ best practices and exchange experiences in promoting more effective protection of IPR in digital content trade.

Alignment

Alignment - APEC: The proposed project will contribute to the APEC goals set in APEC Action Agenda on Advancing Economic, Financial and Social Inclusion in the APEC Region by “capitalizing on opportunities and overcoming challenges presented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution”.

The proposed project will support APEC reaching the main goals set in APEC Cross-Border E-Commerce Facilitation Framework (including creation of a favourable regulatory eco-system for e-commerce; facilitation of business participation in global e-commerce).

The proposed project demonstrates concrete efforts to implement APEC Internet and Digital Economy Roadmap.

The proposed project will contribute to the implementation of the Chair’s Era Kone Statement following the 26th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting and of the APEC Ministerial Chair’s Statement following the APEC Ministerial Meeting in Port Moresby.

Alignment – Forum: The project aligns with Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI) work relating to the internet and digital economy issues. The CTI plays an important role in APEC’s work, including relating to the implementation of the APEC Internet and Digital Economy Roadmap and APEC Cross-Border E-Commerce Facilitation Framework which provide for the APEC’s work plan in this area. The proposed project contributes to such work, including by providing additional impetus to the promotion and protection of IPR in digital content trade, as well as to exploring of further areas relating to the internet and digital economy.

TILF/ASF Justification

Not Applicable.

Beneficiaries and Outputs

Output	Description
Pre-Workshop Questionnaire	In order to carry out research in this area a questionnaire will be developed and circulated in APEC before the workshop. Such questionnaire will be aimed at compiling summaries from APEC economies on existing domestic regulation and applied practices in the field of IPR protection in digital content trade, views of APEC economies on most critical challenges to the IPR protection in digital content trade, as well as APEC economies’ examples from APEC on how to tackle such challenges. The results of the questionnaire will be distributed at the beginning of the workshop and will help to streamline the discussion.
Workshop	A. A two-day Workshop to be held in Moscow in 2020. B. Participants of the Workshop will discuss existing global regulatory framework relating to the IPR protection in digital content trade and share domestic experiences to promote better understanding by the governments and businesses, including MSMEs, of the regulatory framework of the APEC economies in this sphere. On that basis, participants will examine existing challenges APEC economies face in the protection of IPR in digital content trade and exchange best practices and experiences in ways to tackle such challenges, as well as to promote more effective protection of IPR in digital content trade.
Summary report	C. A summary report (ranging from 10 to 20 pages) will provide for general overview of discuss existing global regulatory framework relating to the IPR protection in digital content trade, as well as existing regulation of this topic at domestic level in APEC economies. The report shall contain an overview of identified challenges APEC economies are facing in the protection of IPR in digital content trade. The format of a summary report is APEC Publication. The summary report will summarize best practices and experiences of APEC economies in ways to tackle the above-mentioned challenges, as well as to summarize ideas on possible ways to address such challenges in order to ensure more effective protection of IPR in digital content trade. D. The report will be composed but not limited to the following, , sections: introduction of the project; summary review of existing global regulatory framework relating to the IPR protection in digital content trade, as well as existing challenges APEC economies face in the protection of IPR in digital content trade based on the briefings of discussions at the Workshop and briefings of the presentations made at the Workshop; summary review of the best practices (if any) of the APEC economies in this sphere based on the briefings of discussions at the Workshop and briefings of the presentations made at the Workshop; suggested recommendations made by Workshop attendants. E. The abovementioned outcomes and recommendations from the Workshop will be presented to CTI.
Recommendations	F. Participants of the Workshop will provide recommendations for APEC further work in the sphere of IPR protection in digital content trade. In particular, possible specific areas could be defined as areas for further exploration and exchange of views, for example with a focus only on the issue of legal framework in the field of Domain Names. G. The recommendations will be a part of the summary report and will provide suggestions on next steps which are further, suggested activities/ initiatives/ action plans at domestic or APEC level to continue and further this capacity building activity.

A tentative list of discussion topics for the event as follows:

(1) General issues of IPR protection in digital content trade, including the issue a territorial nature of application, as well as application of domestic laws and regulations in this field;

(2) Protection of copyright and related rights in the Internet;

(3) Protection of rights to trademarks and other means of individualization in the context of electronic commerce;

(4) Legal framework in the field of Domain Names; and

(5) Protection of new technologies and access to technologies in the context of digital content trade.

It is planned to streamline the discussion according to the abovementioned 5 sections. The discussion will be led by a moderator. The format of the discussion for each session is planned as follows:

(1) introduction of the issue;

(2) exchange of views and best practices; and

(3) short summary.

To ensure that there is enough time to address all areas of intended discussion it is planned that each of the 5 sessions will last for 1 hour 15 minutes, A thirty minutes introduction at the beginning of the workshop is planned. At the end of the day 1 hour 10 minutes is planned for summary and conclusions, as well as Q&A.

As soon as the subject of the workshop is relevant to the ongoing discussions at WTO and WIPO, participation of experts from these IOs is highly welcomed.

It is planned that each session will be led by at least a speaker from the WTO, WIPO, UNCTAD, OECD or other relevant international organisation, a speaker from a governmental body (specifically, representing a ministry or an agency responsible for formulating international trade policy, policy relating to digital agenda, or IPR policy) , as well as a speaker from private sector, including MSMEs. As for government officials, middle and high expert level is welcomed (minimum level – head of division).

Outcomes: After the workshop, the participants areexpected to gain a more in-depth understanding of global regulatory framework and APEC economies’ best practices in the area of protection of IPR in digital content trade.

The results of the workshop will help governments to get better understating on possible legal gaps in the field of IPR protection in digital content trade, both at domestic and international level. It will also help governments to get acquainted with possible approaches to address current challenges in this area. The results of the workshop will help businesses, including MSMEs, to get more information on this issue facilitating their further integration in digital content trade. The workshop can contribute to potential changes in policies/regulations both at domestic and international level (including WTO on-going discussion on e-commerce). aimed to enhance IPR protection in digital content trade.

Beneficiaries: The direct beneficiaries of the workshop will be CTI and other APEC related fora representatives. The results of the workshop will help governments (especially, ministries and agencies responsible for international trade policy; ministries and agencies formulating policy relating to digital agenda, as well as ministries and agencies responsible for formulating IPR policy) to get better understating on possible legal gaps in the field of IPR protection in digital content trade, both at domestic and international level. It will also help governments to get acquainted with possible approaches to address current challenges in this area.

The results of the workshop will help businesses, including MSMEs, to get more information on this issue facilitating their further integration in digital content trade. Thus, participation of representatives of private sector, including MSMEs, Involved in digital content trade is strongly recommended.

Representatives will be reviewed by the Project Overseer to ensure they are the most relevant persons with respect to the objective and substance of the workshop.

Dissemination

The report, presentations and related materials will be available to members in electronic format for distribution to public officials from APEC. Electronic publication (presentations of the Workshop and project’s summary report) will also be sent to Workshop speakers and participants to disseminate the Workshop’s documents widely.

The materials will be sent to the APEC Secretariat for distribution through the APEC document database. The summary report will be published on the APEC website.

Organizers will encourage participants to circulate documents domestically to assure effectiveness in dissemination.

A summary report of the Workshop will also be prepared and submitted to CTI. The Summary Report will be published as an APEC Publication. It will be published on APEC Publications website. The Summary report can be helpful for audience from different backgrounds of expertise such as government officials and policy makers, academicians, IPR experts, and business.

Gender

The protection of IP rights restores this financial incentive to create and innovate, by giving owners and content creators exclusive power over their creations. For women, this is of huge importance. Statistics have shown that countries with stronger IP rights tend to have stronger measures of gender equality. “Women in the economy are a powerful force for change and leadership. Intellectual property rights when used correctly can advance entrepreneurship by enabling women who develop innovative ideas and products to secure financing, signal their innovation, and negotiate access to the IPRs held by others.

The participation of women brings a crucial perspective not represented in conventionally male-dominated spheres. Therefore, from the origination of this project, female experts have been closely involved. Women are encouraged to participate in the preparation and implementation of the project:

- Gender diversity will be strongly encouraged. At least, 1/3 of participants and 1/3 of oinvited experts and speakers should be women.

- The proposal is drafted in consultation with governmental officials, experts half of whom are women.

- The project team will include women members.

- Women participants from APEC members are encouraged to attend the workshop.

- As many women as possible will be invited to evaluate the project. Thus, an evaluation model of gender-disaggregated benefit can be expected as one of the outputs.

- Russia will be disseminating information and invitation to as many women as possible, including through APEC PPWE (Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy) and female business associations of Russia. Women researchers will participate in the compilation of the summary report.

- The findings will be put on the APEC website so that they are accessible to all stakeholders. Equal employment opportunities for women and men in terms of logistical supplementation will be provided.

PO is committed to collect sex-disaggregated data for all speakers and participants (and not only the APEC funded) from the project event. This data will be included as part of the submission of the Completion Report to the Secretariat when the project completes and will serve to guide future POs on their own gender parity targets.

Work Plan

Timing	Tasks	Deliverables
October- November 2019	Initiating Contracting process	Signed Contract
October 2019	Draft program and develop agenda of the workshop	Program agenda and topics
November 2019	At CTI ask CTI members to nominate participants for the workshop.	Program agenda and topics
October – November 2019	Update draft program and develop agenda of the workshop	Program agenda and topics
December 2019	Send invitation letters Venue booking (logistics and documentation) Follow up the participants and speakers	Program agenda and topics
February – March 2020	Drafting and submission of a Monitoring Report to the Secretariat	Monitoring Report
February – April 2020	Engage in substantive and logistical preparation for the workshop.	Draft invitation and admin circular Workshop materials Monitoring Report
February 2020	Develop and circulate at CTI and IPEG a respective questionnaire as part of preparations for the workshop.	Questionnaire

May 2020	Conduct a two-day workshop in Moscow, Russia	Host Workshop
September 2020	Project completion	Draft summary report, Draft completion report
September 2020	Drafting and submission of draft APEC Publication to the Secretariat for review and approval.	APEC Publication (summary report)
November 2020	After approval by the Secretariat, circulation of the draft APEC Publication for comments and endorsement by the CTI.	APEC Publication (summary report)
October 2020	Preparing draft initiative at CTI aimed at creating a tracking and monitoring mechanism for APEC economies to report changes (in policy and practices) happening in their home economies to better promote IPR protection in digital content trade. Update the progress at CTI meetings.	Draft CTI initiative
February 2021	The drafting, submission and endorsement of the Completion Report, Summary Report and all supporting documents to the Secretariat	Completion Report
February 2021	Participation in the Long Term Evaluation of APEC Projects conducted by the Secretariat	Evaluation forms

Risks

Risk 1: Lack of confirmation of keynote speakers.

Risk management: That risk will be managed by identifying possible back-up speakers in advance of the event.

Risk 2: The selection of good speakers in order to make the Workshop interesting, informative and helpful.

Risk management: The Organizers will work closely with PO and co-sponsoring economies to nominate and invite the most suitable speakers for the workshop. Participants should be government officials who are directly or indirectly involved in digital economy and Intellectual Property Rights issues, who have good background as well as relevant work experiences in the field. To ensure the results, invitations will be sent through different fora in APEC including CTI, IPEG, ECSG, TEL, SMEWG and ABAC. For the host economy, the workshop is free open to business sector including business associations; apart from officials from the government and local authorities.

Risk 3: The delay of nomination from APEC economies.

Risk management: To avoid undesirable consequences, the Organizers send invitations to economies in advance, work with the economies to ensure relevant candidates are selected for participation.Risk 4: Participant do not have the expertise on the main topic of the Workshop.

Risk management: The event general information document as well as the invitation to be circulated among CTI, members will highlight specific criteria to nominate participants to the Workshop.

Monitoring and Evaluation

To ensure comprehensive evaluation of the project (workshop) the following indicators will be taken into consideration: a number of participants and their expertise, a number of women participants (not less than 15), and a number of participating business representatives (MSMEs in particular) (not less than 10, 3 of which are MSMEs). In addition, an evaluation form (including substance, relevance, quality and overall impact parameters) will be prepared and distributed to all participants to assess the effectiveness of the workshop. The report on the outcomes of the workshop will be prepared for CTI members’ consideration and adoption.

In order to carry out research in this area a questionnaire will be developed and circulated at CTI and IPEG before the workshop. Such questionnaire will be aimed at compiling summaries from APEC economies on existing domestic regulation and applied practices in the field of IPR protection in digital content trade, views of APEC economies on most critical challenges to the IPR protection in digital content trade, as well as APEC economies’ examples from APEC on how to tackle such challenges. The results of the questionnaire will be distributed at the beginning of the workshop and will help to streamline the discussion.

At the end of the event, a survey will be distributed to workshop participants to obtain feedback. These results will be very important to elaborate the Summary report and to assess possible future events on similar issues. This will help to identify the main needs of the public officials in charge of IPR policy, including within the context of the relevant ongoing discussions in the WTO.

The results of the workshop will be analyzed by PO in order to elaborate the Summary report and spread the outcomes to CTI, IPEG, ECSG, TEL, SMEWG, ABAC and PECC and Non-APEC members, as well as other stakeholders and organizations of interest, such as WIPO, WTO, UNCTAD, UNESCO, OECD, World Bank.

The results of the research can be used as guidelines for possible negotiations processes in this sphere.

Linkages

Stakeholders who can closely engage in this project include Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI), Intellectual Property Rights Experts Group (IPEG), Electronic Commerce Steering Group (ECSG), Telecommunication and Information working group (TEL), Small and Medium Enterprises Working Group (SMEWG), APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC).

Non-APEC stakeholders include multilateral organizations such as WIPO, WTO, UNCTAD, UNESCO, OECD, World Bank and other international fora.

The project will not duplicate previous or ongoing APEC seminars, dialogues and workshops on digital trade and e-commerce related issues. The areas and content of discussions are adequate and not duplicative with the previous projects or work outside APEC. A tentative list of discussion topics for the event as follows: (1) General issues of IPR protection in digital content trade, including the issue a territorial nature of application, as well as application of domestic laws and regulations in this field4 (2) Protection of copyright and related rights in the Internet; (3) Protection of rights to trademarks and other means of individualization in the context of electronic commerce; (4) Legal framework in the field of Domain Names; (5) Protection of new technologies and access to technologies in the context of digital content trade.

It is planned to streamline the discussion according to the abovementioned 5 sections. The discussion will be led by a moderator. The format of the discussion for each session is planned as follows: (1) introduction of the issue; (2) exchange of views and best practices; (3) short summary. To ensure that there is enough time to address all areas of intended discussion it is planned that each of the 5 sessions will last for 1 hour 15 minutes, A thirty minutes introduction at the beginning’. of the workshop is planned. At the end of the day 1 hour 10 minutes is planned for summary and conclusions, as well as Q&A.

APEC plays an important role in evolving the agenda in trade-related issues, including trade in digital content trade. Thus, APEC can contribute towards further improvements in the area subject to this workshop.

Sustainability

To make sure that the workshop meets its objectives, the organizer will report to and seek approval from CTI for the recommendations in particular and the report in general. Based on the recommendations from member economies, the organizer will consider proposing new activities/initiatives to follow up the outcome of the project.

Project Overseers

Ms. Tatiana Tsukanova
Deputy Director
Department for Trade negotiations
Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation
Tel: +7 (495) 870-2921, extension 11105
E-mail: Tsukanova@economy.gov.ru

Ms. Tsukanova has been directly involved and contributed to the work on a wide range of trade policy and regional integration related issues over the last 15 years, including in the context of Russia’s participation in APEC.

Cost Efficiency

Not Applicable.

Drawdown Timetable

Not Applicable.

Direct Labour

Not Applicable.

Waivers

Not Applicable.

Are there any supporting document attached?

APEC Project Proposal