US embassy cable - 03AMMAN7972

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 007972 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
EB/TPP/MTA/IPC FOR S. WILSON 
PASS TO USTR FOR E. SAUMS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, KIPR, KTIA, PREL, JO 
SUBJECT: JORDAN COPYRIGHT LAW: WIPO COMPLIANCE A FOUNDATION 
FOR CLOSER CONFORMITY WITH FTA 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  FOR USG GOVERNMENT USE ONLY. 
PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
1.  (U)  This is an action request. See last para. 
 
2.  (SBU)  SUMMARY:  Ministry of Industry and Trade contacts 
confirmed that the Government of Jordan (GOJ) cabinet has 
approved two WIPO internet treaties and expects the 
notification process to WIPO to be completed by the end of 
the year.  Amendments intended to bring Jordan's Copyright 
Law into conformity with the two treaties are before the 
Parliament, which should take action before the end of 
January.  The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade 
Mohammad Halaiqa has asked for a review of the law and the 
FTA, to decide on other possible amendments to the copyright 
law needed to bring the law into closer conformity with the 
U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement (FTA).  Ministry of Trade 
officials asserted their intent to meet Jordan's commitments 
under the FTA.  END SUMMARY. 
 
WIPO Treaties on Track 
---------------------- 
 
3.  (SBU)  Ministry of Industry and Trade Assistant Director 
of Foreign Trade Policy Maha Ali told Econoff December 8 that 
the GOJ cabinet approved the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and 
the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), known as 
the internet treaties, before the Eid Al-Fitr holiday in late 
November.  The treaties are in the Royal Court awaiting King 
Abdullah's approval, she noted.  Although she stressed that 
she could not speak for the Royal Court, Ali said that the 
treaties would likely be given consideration very soon. She 
confirmed that, if approved, the two treaties would be 
notified to WIPO by the end of the year.  At the same time 
the treaties would also go to Parliament for ratification 
before being sent to the MFA for final processing and deposit 
of the instruments of ratification.  A number of officials 
acknowledged that the FTA specifies that date for accession 
and deposit of the WCT and WPPT on December 17, but noted 
that the new elections, the formation of a government and a 
cabinet reshuffle had delayed the progress of the measure. 
At the same time, senior MOIT official Amer Hadidi said that 
the internet treaties and the Copyright Law would be taken up 
by the government as a priority. 
 
4.  (SBU)  Regarding the amended Copyright Law, which has 
been in effect as a provisional law since June 16, 2003, 
National Library Director Mamoun Talhouni noted that it 
included improvements developed through a careful review of 
the 1999 law by an expert provided by WIPO headquarters in 
Geneva.  (NOTE:  Provisional laws adopted by the Cabinet in 
the period between the old parliament's dissolution and the 
new parliament's election last June 17 remain in effect until 
adopted, rejected, or amended. END NOTE.)  Talhouni asserted 
that the law appeared to meet the minimal standards set out 
in the WCT and the WPPT and, in certain instances, the 
additional amendments seemed to be stronger than those 
standards.  The WIPO-supported review had been completed in 
May, 2002, he noted.  It took about a year for the amended 
Copyright Law to work its way through the government before 
being passed as a temporary law. 
 
WIPO Amendments Look Good, But Not A Shoe-In 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
5.  (SBU)  In order to become the law of the land with 
Parliament's full blessing, the amended Copyright Law still 
has to pass through a parliamentary review that Talhouni 
deemed "sensitive."  Talhouni vaguely alluded to private 
sector concerns from interest groups that have benefited from 
loose enforcement of copyright.  According to a respected IPR 
lawyer in Amman, Nancy Dababneh of International Business 
Legal Associates, (protect source) one serious concern is the 
simple "presumption of authorship" concept.  A lack of 
education among the general public and lawmakers has led 
many, for example, to question that the creation of works 
during employment that relate to a business's activities 
should be the property of the employer, she said.  The 
WIPO-conforming amendments will likely be considered before 
the end of January, Talhouni said, expressing the hope that 
they would pass. 
 
FTA Commitments 
--------------- 
 
6.  (SBU)  Turning to the GOJ's commitments in the FTA, 
Talhouni noted that accession to the internet treaties and 
corresponding amendments to the Copyright Law were a major 
achievement.  "I thought we did what we had to do," to 
conform to the FTA, he said, noting that he relied on the 
WIPO-supported expert.  He termed certain amendments of the 
law "strong", such as a new article banning circumvention 
measures that disable IPR protections (Article 55 of the 
Copyright Law).  Noting that it was not an official USG 
position, Econoff cited a recent private review of the GOJ 
Copyright Law with a Jordanian IPR lawyer (Dababneh - 
protect), in which about ten parts of the law appeared to the 
Jordanian lawyer to be imprecise or incomplete when compared 
to the FTA requirements.  (NOTE: We shared with Dababneh many 
of the main points of a recent IIPA analysis of the Copyright 
Law, without identifying the source.  END NOTE.)  Talhouni 
asserted that the matter required further review by experts. 
If provisions of the Copyright Law are not adequate to meet 
FTA obligations as agreed between the two governments, he 
said, then he would seek GOJ cooperation to reach those 
objectives agreed to by both parties.  MOIT's Hadidi was more 
direct, asserting that the GOJ would seek ways to meet all of 
its FTA commitments regarding IPR, including copyright. 
(COMMENT:  The National Library formerly reported to the 
Minister of Culture, which has been abolished. The NL must 
now answer to the MOIT, and will likely adopt a more 
aggressive approach to solving trade-related problems.  END 
COMMENT.) 
 
7.  (SBU)  Regarding enforcement, Talhouni noted that the 
National Library brought 308 IPR infringement cases in 2003 
through November 24, breaking the 2002 record of 297 cases. 
Most of these cases were for selling pirated works, he noted. 
 Working with police, the National Library enforcement units 
have been able to use a wide variety of criminal law measures 
to seek out illegal producers and vendors and to confiscate 
evidence such as pirated DVDs.  This aggressive enforcement 
activity has raised the ire of local populist journalists, 
who print articles slanted against the enforcers, Dababneh 
noted.  In addition, the National Library is running out of 
space to store the evidence, Talhouni has noted. 
 
Legislative Timing an Issue 
--------------------------- 
 
8.  (SBU)  For now, the National Library would try to bring 
the current set of amendments to conclusion in Parliament, 
Talhouni noted.  In the meantime, in parallel with the 
efforts there, the National Library would recommend to its 
parent Ministry of Industry and Trade to review the Copyright 
Law and develop any amendments needed to bring it into closer 
conformity with the FTA.  Talhouni was confident that, given 
the proper technical inputs, a National Library-Trade 
Ministry team could pull together any required amendments to 
support the FTA IPR obligations and to propose them to the 
cabinet.  Hadidi emphasized that the review would happen 
quickly and that the ministry would propose a timetable for 
the potential amendments as soon as possible.  Hadidi also 
asked to know what the U.S. government's priorities were 
regarding copyright matters. 
 
Jordan Appears Committed to Taking Next Steps 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
9.  (SBU)  COMMENT:  Dababneh's review of the Copyright Law 
and the FTA shows that of roughly ten problem areas 
identified by IIPA, perhaps about five would need to be 
handled in amendments to the law and the rest through 
amendments to GOJ regulations or through other measures such 
as the application of other laws already on the books or 
through clarifications about meaning or intent in the law. 
 
10.  (SBU)  We are reassured by the commitments made by 
Talhouni and Hadidi. On the plus side, a growing core of 
businesses that benefit from strong IPR protections -- the IT 
industry, pharmaceuticals, legitimate DVD rental stores -- 
are pulling together to promote IPR and would be useful 
allies to secure any needed changes to the Copyright Law. 
 
11.  (SBU)  All indications are that the GOJ is committed to 
taking the steps necessary to live up to its IPR commitments 
in the FTA. 
 
12.  (SBU)  Nonetheless, we see a need to respond to the 
GOJ's request to outline specific USG concerns regarding the 
Copyright Law and, in particular, our priorities.  For 
example, the GOJ just doubled the penalties for infringement. 
What importance does the U.S. attach to increasing the 
penalties again, versus securing fundamentals such as a 
better definition of "presumed authorship"?)  END COMMENT. 
 
13.  (SBU)  ACTION REQUEST: Embassy seeks Department's 
guidance on the USG approach to Jordan's amended Copyright 
Law, our views on a review of the law for consistency with 
FTA obligations, and the priorities the USG attaches to the 
various IPR legal and enforcement issues raised.  In addition 
to addressing this issue with the National Library's 
Talhouni, who has technical responsibility for enforcing 
copyright protections, we will use this guidance with Deputy 
Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Halaiqa, 
who has overall responsibility for managing Jordan's trade 
relationship with the United States.  The subject should also 
be on the agenda of the upcoming U.S.-Jordan FTA Joint 
Committee meeting. 
HALE