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· Organization of the 10^th IPR Conference

· Media Brunch with journalists on IPR issues and presentation of IDC Piracy Study

· Enforcement monitoring (Market inspection, Tax and Custom Administration, RATEL)

· Participation in the seminar for judiciary, which will be organized by the Intellectual Property Office

· Reality check of Copyright Law implementation

· Social media engagement

Over the past year, the IPR Committee was actively involved in activities that accomplished its annual goals. Key initiatives were the completion of a legal framework for intellectual property protection and the adoption of the Optical Discs Law (ODL), which is important for reducing physical piracy as well as a condition for meeting World Trade Organization’s (WTO) accession requirements. AmCham advocated for this issue at the April meeting with the Prime Minister and at National Competiveness Council meetings, following which the first Draft was released. In December, representatives of the IPR Committee participated in a public discussion on the Draft ODL law and provided several technical suggestions for improvement of the text.

During 2010, IPR Committee members, in cooperation with the Business Software Alliance (BSA), conducted two training series for the Tax Administration assisting them in their work of fighting software piracy. Recognizing the specific skills necessary, at the very end of 2010, the Tax Administration established a separate department responsible for checking licensed software.

In late December, the chairman of the IPR Committee, Vuk Pribić, and IPR Steering Committee member Dragomir Kojić joined Minister of Trade and Services Slobodan Milosavljević and Charge d’ Affairs of the US Embassy Earl Litzenberger to promote the destruction and recycling of 120,000 pirated CDs seized during the regular work of the Market Inspection. Boosting the promotional activities of the authorities in charge of IPR enforcement was recognized as one of the essential measures for increasing preventive activities for IPR-related theft at the AmCham 8th IPR Conference.

Moreover, in November, the Intellectual Property Office published the draft Strategy for Development of Intellectual Property Protection, which encompasses all key suggestions of the IPR Committee made at the last IPR Conference.

• On October 28-29, AmCham organized 7th Annual Confernce on IPR. Participants have agreed that a clear political consensus at all levels is necessary for the protection of rights in this area, as well as advancement of cooperation among state bodies in regard to the implementation of the existing regulations. (Click here for conclusions of the Conference in Serbian language.)
• The IPR Committee hosted a Press Conference "Protecting IPR in Challenging Economic Times" highlighting the importance of strengthened IPR protection and enforcement, especially with a view to retaining foreign direct investment as well as having a significant impact on increasing budget revenues.
  

• A 6^th Annual Regional IPR Conference was held at Ohrid, Macedonia, organized jointly by AmCham Serbia and AmCham Macedonia, with key government stakeholders from the region taking advantage of presentations on IPR and sharing best practices in enforcement.

• The IPR Committee, in association with the Business Software Alliance (BSA), began training over 1,000 tax inspectors to detect unlicensed software, which is vital for the thorough implementation of the IPR Enforcement Law;
• After close cooperation with the IPR Committee, the Serbian Tax Administration launched a public-relations campaign informing taxpayers of its authority according to the Law on Special Powers for Efficient Protection of Intellectual Property Rights to check for licensed software, and also commenced cracking down on offenders;
• The IPR Committee organized its 5^th Annual Regional IPR Conference.

• The IPR Committee participated in drafting the Law on Special Powers for Efficient Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR Enforcement Law), and the preparation of the Draft Law on Trade Secrets and the Draft Optical Discs Law;
• In the area of public education and capacity building, the Committee organized or participated in a number of events (including training for the inspectors of Serbia's Republic Market Inspectorate and for police officers, prosecutors and judges in Zrenjanin);
• The Committee hosted a Conference on IPR protection in Babe, Serbia, in order to discuss practical implementation of legislation and to provide an opportunity for key government counterparts to learn more about the best practices for fighting IPR infringement.

• The Committee hosted IPR Conferences in Palić, Serbia, and in Cetinje, Montenegro, with key Government stakeholders in IPR enforcement.
• Members of an IPR sub-committee, assisted the Ministry of Culture, upon invitation, on IPR-related issues and questions.
• Upon the invitation of the Ministry of Culture, the IPR Committee member company
  

  actively participated in the Ministry's activities related to IPR issues.

• The Ministry of International Economic Relations formally requested AmCham's views on new draft legislation, in particular the draft Law on Special Powers for the Efficient Protection of Intellectual Property Rights .

• Prior to becoming a Committee, the IPR Task Force organized, in coordination with the Ministry of Justice, a very successful Conference in Belgrade: "IPR Protection--From legislation to implementation".