US embassy cable - 05AMMAN3171

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 003171 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ELA 
STATE ALSO FOR EB/TPP/IPE 
STATE PASS TO USTR 
USDOC FOR 4521/MAC/ANESA/CLOUSTANAU/NWIEGLER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KIPR, ETRD, ECON, KTIA, JO 
SUBJECT: IPR ENFORCEMENT TEAM GOES AFTER COPYRIGHT LAW 
VIOLATORS 
 
REF: AMMAN 2850 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  FOR USG USE ONLY. 
 
1.  (SBU)  SUMMARY:  Within days of the new Jordanian 
Copyright Law's promulgation on March 31, GOJ IPR enforcement 
teams were on the streets enforcing the new law.  Officials 
raided 40-50 software shops and confiscated pirated software 
in five, referring the cases for prosecution.  With the 
Business Software Alliance's cooperation and subsequent 
publicity, the campaign targeted at illegal software was 
widely covered in the press.  The IPR enforcers plan further 
raids targeting music and movies, and say they will seek 
larger fines for copyright infringement convictions.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
New Copyright Law 
----------------- 
 
2. (U)  On March 31, Jordan's temporary Copyright Law, and 
the amendments to make it WIPO- and FTA-compatible, were 
published in the Official Gazette, thus making it the law of 
the land.  Post will fax to NEA/ELA the Arabic-language text 
of the law and amendments as published in the Gazette; 
Econoff also referred the law to a USAID-supported project 
that will publish on the internet English translations at 
www.jordanianbusinesslaws.com. 
 
3.  (U)  Within days of the law's publication, the 
enforcement unit based in the National Library conducted 
raids on 40 to 50 shops along Amman's Garden Street, an area 
near Jordan University with a high concentration of computer 
shops.  National Library director Mamoun Talhouni told us 
that his team focused on software piracy and found five 
instances of pirated software.  The software was confiscated 
and referred for prosecution under the Copyright Law, he 
said.  (Post will attempt to follow these cases through the 
courts to identify and report strengths or weaknesses of the 
enforcement system.)  Press coverage of the initial National 
Library raids was extensive, with all of the major 
Arab-language dailies reporting on them.  The Business 
Software Alliance,s regional representative was prominently 
quoted, noting these actions protected Jordan's growing IT 
sector. 
 
Pirates Running Scared; Embarrassment of Confiscated Riches 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
4. (SBU) Talhouni said that shop owners were "running scared 
about using illegal stuff," and that fewer and fewer were 
displaying pirated software, in a marked departure from past 
practice.  He also relayed a "problem" he was having with 
street hawkers:  IPR enforcement teams were collecting so 
many of the hawkers' illegal wares "after they ran" that his 
teams were running out of space to store the "thousands" of 
pirated items.  Still to be worked out is the legal process 
for ordering their destruction, he noted. 
 
5.  (SBU)  Next steps included more raids on video and music 
shops, Talhouni said, where some were selling pirated CDs, 
DVDs, videotapes, and audiotapes.  He also noted that the 
National Library was planning a public awareness campaign on 
IPR with the assistance of the USAID Achievement of 
Market-Friendly Initiatives and Results (AMIR) program. 
Talhouni expressed interest in more training sessions for the 
judiciary, along the lines of seminar held earlier this year 
in coordination with the Jordan Intellectual Property 
Association. 
 
Sending a "Crime Does Not Pay" Message 
--------------------=----------------- 
 
6. (SBU)  A key point at such seminars will be to convince 
the judiciary to enforce the new penalties available under 
the Copyright Law.  At present, many judges still rely on the 
old, criminal law fines.  When a neighbor sees a hawker of 
pirated goods fined ten Jordanian dinars (about USD 14), "he 
thinks that is nothing," said Talhouni.  "It has no effect on 
the ground."  Applying the new statute's penalties of 1000 JD 
(USD 1400) or more would send a strong signal that selling 
pirated materials does not pay, he noted.  If judges started 
imposing the fines in the Copyright Law, "the people will be 
frightened" into obeying the law. 
 
7.  (SBU)  COMMENT:  The GOJ is off to a promising start with 
the new Copyright Law.  We believe the key players are aware 
that enforcement is key to preventing pirating and 
infringement.  At the current rate of case referrals to 
prosecution (58 through April 17), the GOJ will only modestly 
surpass the 218 cases filed in 2004.  However, Talhouni said 
that these case referral figures will improve during the next 
three quarters of 2005, now that the GOJ has the Copyright 
Law in its toolkit of enforcement measures. 
HALE