US urges Cambodia to get tough on Trademarks and Copyrights

Feb 14, 2007, 11:39 GMT

Phnom Penh - The US criticized Cambodia for lagging behind neighbouring Vietnam in strengthening its laws on trademark infringements despite its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), a Cambodian lawmaker said Wednesday.

Opposition Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian said Senior Counsel of the Office of Enforcement of the US Patent and Trademark Office Peter Fowler had met with the parliamentary committee set up to oversee financial and economic matters and urged the country to toughen its laws against such infringements.

The US wants to see Cambodia ... create more laws to ensure the commercial environment and especially trademark problems, Keo Remy, deputy chief of the committee, told reporters.

Remy said he had reminded Fowler that Cambodia was a transit point and not a major production point for such infringements, but had also admitted that trademark violations did exist, especially in pirated goods such as CDs.

He said Fowler had extended an invitation for committee members to travel to Washington to attend a seminar on ways Cambodia could draft and implement tougher laws. Cambodia was granted WTO accession in 2003.