SPECIAL 301 FOR SWEDEN: RESULTS DISCUSSED WITH GOS

UNCLASSIFIED,FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY UNCLAS STOCKHOLM 000276 STATE FOR EEB/TPP/IPE: TIMOTHY R MCGOWAN AND JOELLEN URBAN STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR FOR JENNIFER CHOE GROVES AND DAVID WEINER SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KIPR, ECON, ETRD, PGOV, SW SUBJECT: SPECIAL 301 FOR SWEDEN: RESULTS DISCUSSED WITH GOS REF: A) STATE 42727, B) STOCKHOLM 141 1. (SBU) Summary. A/DCM and Economic Specialist met with officials from the Swedish Ministries of Justice and Trade on April 29 to convey the results of the Special 301 review. The GOS welcomed the news that Sweden will not be on any watch list in 2009. They told us that the GOS gives priority to protection of IPR and they highlighted recent successes in enforcement efforts. We discussed recent developments, including the drop in internet traffic in Sweden since the adoption of new legislation, as well as Swedish priorities for its Presidency of the EU July-December 2009. End summary. 2. (SBU) Acting DCM and Econ Specialist met with Christine Lager, Head of the Division for Intellectual Property Rights of the Justice Ministry; Christoffer Demery of the same division, and Olle Pettersson at MFA's Division for International Trade Policy. Acting DCM conveyed Ref A points and expressed USG appreciation for the steps the GOS has taken to curb illegal file sharing. Christine Lager responded by going through the recent developments in the area, including the implementation of the EU Enforcement Directive, the increase in investigative officials, the industry consultations, and the Pirate Bay verdict. Presidency priorities --------------------- 3. (U) The Swedish officials noted that during the Swedish Presidency of the EU, July-December 2009, the highest priority in the IPR area will be to make progress on an EU-wide patent. Lager commented that this is also of considerable interest to the U.S. Other priorities will be strengthened enforcement of IPR violations, as well as the ACTA negotiations. December 15-16, Justice Minister Beatrice Ask will host a Conference on Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in Stockholm. The GOS is anxious to work with us to get a high level USG speaker to the conference. Details will be forwarded to EEB and USTR when known. Internet traffic down since new law came into effect ------------------------- 4. (U) One month into the life of the Enforcement Directive legislation, new statistics reveal that Swedish internet use in April has stayed 30 to 40 percent below levels recorded before the law went into effect. Internet traffic in Sweden dropped nearly 40 percent immediately following the April 1 implementation of the Enforcement Directive, from an average of 160 gigabytes per second down to about 100 gigabytes per second, according to figures from Netnod, a company which operates internet exchanges in five cities in Sweden. 5. (U) The company's statistics serve as a generally accepted barometer for measuring Sweden's internet traffic, and many viewed the initial dip as a temporary phenomenon due to uncertainty about the new law. However, more recent figures show that the drop in traffic holds, one month into the new law's existence. By comparison, internet traffic dropped by 30 percent after the raid on the Pirate Bay in May of 2006, only to recover completely within a few days. SILVERMAN