Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07AMMAN2641
2007-06-20 14:43:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Amman
Cable title:  

USPTO-MEPI BOOK TOUR PROGRAM RAISES PUBLIC AWARENESS ON

Tags:  ECON ETRD KIPR PGOV JO IPR 
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VZCZCXYZ0004
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAM #2641 1711443
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 201443Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9167
INFO RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
UNCLAS AMMAN 002641 

SIPDIS

THE MIDDLE EAST PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE

SIPDIS

STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR AND USAID
STATE FOR EB/TPP/IPE, NEA/ELA, AND NEA/PI

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR PGOV JO IPR
SUBJECT: USPTO-MEPI BOOK TOUR PROGRAM RAISES PUBLIC AWARENESS ON
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

REF: USDOC 2700

UNCLAS AMMAN 002641

SIPDIS

THE MIDDLE EAST PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE

SIPDIS

STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR AND USAID
STATE FOR EB/TPP/IPE, NEA/ELA, AND NEA/PI

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR PGOV JO IPR
SUBJECT: USPTO-MEPI BOOK TOUR PROGRAM RAISES PUBLIC AWARENESS ON
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

REF: USDOC 2700


1. Jordan hosted June 13 a USPTO-MEPI Book Tour and Public
Awareness Program, with the assistance of the Embassy and the
USAID-funded Sustainable Achievement of Business Expansion and
Quality (SABEQ) program. The Ambassador and Acting Minister of
Industry and Trade Montaser Oklah gave opening remarks, highlighting
the importance of intellectual property rights (IPR) in the
Jordan-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, and the need for IPR protection to
maintain global competitiveness. Approximately 80 participants
attended the workshop, including GOJ officials responsible for IPR
enforcement, judges, lawyers, local businessmen, members of business
associations, and journalists. Minister of Justice Sharif Al Zu'bi
participated as well, sending a strong signal of continuing
high-level GOJ interest in IPR issues, particularly enforcement and
prosecution.


2. USPTO's Joseph Rodriguez introduced the book series
"Intellectual Property and You" as a practical and comprehensive
guide to intellectual property. Dr. Amir Khoury, the researcher and
author of the books, presented the theory that the concept of
intellectual property has existed for centuries in both Arab and
western cultures, dispelling any notion that it is being imposed on
the east by the west. Approximately 30 university students later
challenged this theory and discussed IP benefits for Jordan with the
two speakers during a separate student seminar hosted by the Arab
Society for Intellectual Property and the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh College
of Business. NOTE: Participants in the workshop and seminar
received copies of Book One (Basic Primer) in English. Book Two
(Guide for Arab Professionals) contained factual inaccuracies, and
the Arabic versions of both books had translation and other errors;
USPTO decided not to distribute those books pending further review.
END NOTE.


3. Other panelists from Microsoft, the Nuqul Group, Hikma
Pharmaceuticals, the GOJ's National Library, the First Instance
Court of Amman, and the Jordan Intellectual Property Association
(JIPA) highlighted local IP success stories and ways to create,
manage, and protect IP assets. Jordan's major Arabic dailies and
the English-language Jordan Times reported positive, straightforward
coverage of the workshop and carried a separate op-ed under the
Ambassador's by-line entitled: "It's Everyone's Program: Protecting
Intellectual Property." The newspapers have a combined readership
of over 1.2 million in this country of fewer than 6 million people.


Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/

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