THE WIPO COPYRIGHT TREATY AND WIPO PERFORMANCES

UNCLAS AMMAN 007112 SIPDIS SENSITIVE EB/IPC FOR SUSAN WILSON USTR FOR SAUMS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETRD KIPR JO SUBJECT: THE WIPO COPYRIGHT TREATY AND WIPO PERFORMANCES AND PHONOGRAMS TREATY: ACCESSION/RATIFCATION AND IMPLEMENTATION REF: STATE 174725 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. HANDLE ACCORDINGLY. ¶1. (SBU) Post has continued to monitor the government of Jordan's (GOJ) progress in ratifying and implementing subject treaties as instructed Reftel. We have spoken with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Legal Affairs office subsequent to passing to the MFA the reftel talking points as a non-paper. The MFA is working with the GOJ to advance the ratification of this and several other treaties through parliament. ¶2. (SBU) On October 8, ECON/C raised with then Minister of Industry and Trade Abu Hamour the WCT and WPPT. The minister responded in writing that the GOJ Copyright Law has already been amended to accommodate provisions of the two treaties, as stipulated in the U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement. (NOTE: The copyright law amendments are now part of a provisional law adopted by the Council of Ministers before parliamentary elections in July, and which are fully in effect until such time as the measures are approved, defeated, or amended by parliament. A Jordanian IPR lawyer familiar with the issue, Nancy Dababneh of IBLAW, has confirmed to embassy that the amendments track the requirements for compliance with the WCT and WPPT. END NOTE.) Abu Hamour also assured the embassy that the process of accession to the two treaties is "currently being studied by the relevant authority." The Minister of Industry and Trade said that the ministry would keep us updated. ¶3. (SBU) COMMENT: The Jordanians continue to demonstrate a solid commitment to the IPR undertakings they made in the FTA and in their accession to the WTO. This is also translating into more effective enforcement: In a recent discussion with the Director of the National Library, he stated that his IPR enforcement team had already achieved two thirds as many prosecutions of IPR cases during the first half of 2003 as they had done in all of 2002. Software companies, including MicroSoft reps, tell us they are satisfied with Jordanian follow-through on the GOJ's IPR commitments, as evidenced by growing sales of licensed copies of software. The GOJ is also working hard with its limited resources to address continuing piracy of entertainment materials, including gaming software. Embassy will continue to follow these issues closely and report on ratification of the WCT and WPPT treaties and their implementation. ¶4. (U) Embassy point of contact on IPR issues is Econoff Greg Lawless: lawlessgf@state.gov GNEHM