It is always nice to see industry associations addressing counterfeiting issues. This Thursday January 21, 2010, in Thessaloniki, the Federation of Federation of Industries of Northern Greece (FING), together with the Greek Industrial Property Organization (OBI) (namely the Greek Patent Office) host an interesting (and free) seminar on how to tackle counterfeiting. According to a statement of FING’s president, Mr Nikolaos Pentzos, in the Greek daily newspaper Eleftherotypia, the rise of counterfeiting activity that is hitting customs authorities the last two years is alarming. Counterfeiting, says Mr Pentzos mainly involves pharmaceutical products, food and beverage, apparel, cigarettes, software, toys and electronic equipment.

The seminar will not be restricted to patent infringement, but will also address copyright and trade mark infringement issues.  As far as trade marks are concerned,  this Class46 member is happy to see, among the distinguished speakers of the seminar, Ms Georgopoulou, lawyer at the General Secretariat of Commerce (which includes the Greek Trade Mark Office), because IP politics  and public awareness in Greece usually stop at the word copyright.