In Liepāja’s Seaside Park, at the glorious Līvas Village Festival that took place on 18 May, you could see the stand that had already been familiar to some residents and regular guests of Liepāja. It was co-created by the Latvian Patent Office (LPO) and the city of Liepāja to demonstrate the harmful effects of counterfeits on the environment, economy, and health, as well as to illustrate the uniqueness of Liepaja as a European Capital of Culture by its registered trademark. The stand is one of the activities developed for Liepāja, which has been the first of the Baltic States’ cities to join the European Network of Authenticities.
Families with children and participants of the festival were the most diligent visitors of the stand. The LPO experts that provided consultations to the visitors of the stand admit that the new generation of Liepaja citizens is well aware of the damage caused by counterfeiting. Some little smart heads were able to determine which Lego toy was a fake by its colour alone.
Last year, the municipality of Liepāja signed a memorandum of understanding with the LPO on cooperation in the Network of Authenticities, including joint activities for raising Liepāja’s citizens’ awareness of intellectual property protection by educating about and popularizing purchasing of authentic products, as well as by promoting Liepaja as a city that recognizes original products and does everything to fight counterfeits and their distribution.
The city of Liepāja joined the Network of Authenticities with the slogan “Authentic is Eternal”. Its relevance was clearly demonstrated by the range of original products offered at the farmers’ and craftsmen’s market at the Līvas Village Festival.
The project aims to raise awareness of the importance of original design and authentic products and services by various public activities. This year, Daugavpils has also joined the project.
