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