US embassy cable - 03AMMAN7112

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