Cambodia to Miss 2013 Copyright Deadline

Cambodia will not meet the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) deadline to enforce copyright laws by 2013 and will likely ask for an extension, an official at the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday. …

The deadline was already extended once by the WTO in 2005 after it became apparent that Cambodia and other less developed countries would not be able to implement laws preventing the sale of counterfeit goods. Six-and-a-half years later, fake Louis Vuitton handbags, imitation Davidoff colognes and illegally copied video games and DVDs are still readily available in most markets in Phnom Penh.

“We want our country to implement this law properly in a prompt manner, but we are still poor and do not have the ability to do that right now,” said Var Rofu San, director of the intellectual property department at the Ministry of Commerce. …

…”It is not necessary to enforce the law because our country is poor. We are not like the rich countries that can afford it,” said a handbag vendor at Daun Penh district’s Sorya Mall, who was selling counterfeits of popular brands such as Guy Laroche, Louis Vuitton and Gucci.