An international forum to seek common solutions to the malpractice takes place in Douala early December.

Douala will on December 1 and 2, 2009 play host to an international forum to evaluate the gravity of counterfeiting in Central and West Africa, seek common solutions and adopt strategies to combat the malpractice said to be increasingly gaining ground in most countries.

Organisers of the two-day forum, the Association of Trade Mark and Patent Agencies Affiliated with the African Intellectual Property Rights Organisation, (AMOAPI), say studies have shown that a greater percentage of goods consumed in the continent are counterfeited.

Speaking last week during the launch of the December event, the president of AMOAPI, Barrister Françoise Ekani said records show that 70 per cent of medications, especially malaria drugs, are counterfeited and that Africa is reportedly the second zone in the world that exports counterfeit goods to Europe. She said counterfeiting is not only dangerous to human health, but that it also stifles the growth of the economy as well as creativity. Some 15 enterprises, members of Confederation of Business people of Cameroon (GICAM), she said, in 2005 lost over FCFA 62,008 billion to counterfeiting and that the customs sector recorded a FCFA 5,058 billion deficit in related circumstances.

Reason why, she added, AMOAPI and its partners decided to dedicate two days to jointly assess the phenomenon, its gravity, as well as identify common solutions and strategies to salvage the economies from crumbling under the weight of the malpractice.

According to Barrister Mary Concilia Anchang, adviser at AMOAPI, the purpose of the Douala forum is to sensitize owners of intellectual property, companies and the general public on the need to be more protective of their assets. "Together we will identify the problems that are ensuing from counterfeiting so that we can all propose future strategies to combat the ill", the Barrister said. The event, she added, will feature among others, debates, workshops and exhibitions with the aim of projecting creativity as an important development tool which must be encouraged and protected by all.

Created in 2000, the Association of Trade Mark and Patent Agencies Affiliated with the African Intellectual Property Rights Organisation comprises experts in intellectual property who seek to advise and defend the rights of innovators and inventors as well as business people of the African Intellectual Property Rights Organisation zone.