US embassy cable - 05AMMAN8330

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 008330 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR 
STATE FOR EB/TPP/IPE - A. ADAMO 
STATE ALSO FOR NEA/ELA - M. SINGH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KIPR, ETRD, KTIA, PGOV, ECON, JO 
SUBJECT: JORDAN IPR PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS: PART I - 
AWARENESS CAMPAIGN TACKLES STREET-SMART PIRATES 
 
REF: A. AMMAN 3171 
     B. AMMAN 1701 
     C. AMMAN 1697 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  FOR USG USE ONLY.  NOT FOR 
INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. 
 
THIS IS THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF CABLES ON INTELLECTUAL 
PROPERTY RIGHTS IN JORDAN. 
 
1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Safeguarding intellectual property rights 
(IPR) in Jordan has been a major government concern, but 
implementation is not yet well-coordinated, and the GoJ is 
ill-prepared for modern IP pirating techniques.  As the 
sophistication of Jordan's IPR protection regime increases, 
the resourcefulness of wily IP pirates is also improving. 
When a new copyright law went into effect in early 2005, 
enforcement officials acted on it immediately (Ref A). 
Jordan,s courts, however, have been reluctant to impose the 
law's new, tougher penalties, to the dismay of local right 
holders and licensees.  Although Jordanian IPR protection 
measures up well in this region, and confiscations and raids 
on violators continue, authorities do not have the resources 
to keep up with the considerable influx of pirated optical 
media and local copying of books, tapes, and digital 
material.  Systemic enforcement problems persist, and 
enforcement officials require more training.  The political 
will remains strong, however, to tackle IPR violations and 
maintain Jordan's IP reputation.  Jordan's trade minister 
fully supports implementing TRIPS- and FTA-related IPR 
commitments, as does the National Library Director General 
who oversees copyright enforcement.  USAID is sponsoring a 
GOJ-supported $60,000 public awareness campaign, which begins 
in October to promote wider public respect for IPR.  In the 
meantime, Minister of Industry and Trade Sharif Zu'bi has 
called for a comprehensive approach to the IPR problem, and 
plans to reconvene a meeting of key GoJ and private sector 
stakeholders on the issue.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Raids Dampen Software Piracy; Other Pirates Persist 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
2.  (SBU) When Jordan's new copyright law went into effect on 
March 31, a wave of raids on computer software pirates 
followed that was unparalleled in its scope (Ref A).  Almost 
weekly since then, under an agreement with the Business 
Software Alliance (BSA), the National Library IP enforcement 
team has been raiding shops that sell pirated software either 
heavily "discounted" or provided "free" with the sale of 
computer hardware.  The campaign, which includes close 
cooperation with BSA lawyer Tawfiq Taba'a and is always 
followed by press coverage, has had a major deterrent effect, 
according to Taba'a.  On the down side, however, wily vendors 
 now no longer display their pirated wares, and are more wary 
of requests from unknown customers.  In the meantime, the 
GOJ-BSA program is beefing up its intel-gathering component 
to root out the pirates, continue the raids, and prosecute 
cases.  Taba'a says the cases, which bring the vendors into 
court every few weeks for up to two years, are so costly in 
time alone that pirates get the message that this crime 
doesn't pay. 
 
3.  (SBU) While software piracy enforcement is increasing, 
other forms of piracy are less frequently policed by the 
National Library as its Director General Mahmoud Talhouni 
openly concedes, pointing to his small staff of six and the 
irregular availability of police to join in raids.  In 
mid-October, Econoff criss-crossed Amman to witness a mixed 
IPR protection picture. 
 
Some Do it Right 
---------------- 
 
4.  (SBU) In upscale West Amman, many video shops stock 
licensed rental copies of DVDs and videotapes in accordance 
with the law.  The area's music stores also sell new copies 
of CD's and audiotapes from licensed distributors, and book 
stores sell legally imported best sellers and a wide range of 
fiction, nonfiction and textbooks. 
 
De Rigueur to buy Bootlegs 
-------------------------- 
 
5.  (SBU) In downtown Amman a different picture emerges, 
however.  Murad Bushnaq, President of the Jordan Intellectual 
Property Association (JIPA), says that the experience of 
purchasing pirated DVD's of U.S. new-release films for 1 
Jordanian Dinar ($1.40) is such a thrill that it is de 
rigueur for tourists to stop and browse the numerous stalls 
found a stone's throw from the downtown Roman Ampitheater. 
Near any university in Jordan, according to Post contacts, 
the same hip culture exists of buying bootlegs for the thrill 
of it.  Near the universities, professors can and do 
negotiate with copier outlets the complete reproduction of 
textbooks for their students.  Dozens of copy shops that line 
the streets outside university campuses appear to do a 
substantial business. 
Fair Use?: "We Will Copy Anything" 
---------------------------------- 
 
6.  (SBU) On October 12, Econoff accompanied by Econ FSN 
visited six copy shops outside the University of Jordan, only 
a small fraction of the shops in the area.  In five of the 
six stores, proprietors were willing to produce any variation 
of textbook copies from full textbooks, to extensive 
excerpts, to 600-page anthologies combining multiple 
textbooks.  At one store, a color-copy anthology on 
archaeology of the Jordan-Palestine region was quite 
attractive -- it stole from publishers Knopf, Thames & 
Hudson, Penguin, and Ernest Benn.  The owner promised that he 
could copy anything.  The illegitimate reproduction business 
has reached a level of sophistication that copiers will offer 
a wide variety of bindings, including gold-embossed hard 
covers - all with an extent of reproduction that goes well 
beyond most reasonable definitions of "fair use" as found in 
the Bern Convention for the Protection of Literary and 
Artistic Works. 
 
One-JD DVD's - Coughing Audiences, Blurry Focus 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
7.  (SBU) With JIPA's Bushnaq, Econoff visited a number of 
pirate video shops in three different sections of Amman. 
Without exception, all carried an extensive list of pirated 
first-run films and classics.  Most also stocked pirated 
audiotapes of hit Arabic-language singers.  NOTE: Bushnaq's 
company, Intermedia, owns the Jordan distribution rights to 
products from Warner Brothers (WB) and Columbia, as well as 
Europe-based EMI and Virgin.  Each year, he must guarantee WB 
that he will purchase a minimum of $40,000 in DVD's, he said. 
 But in the last six months, sales declined and his business 
partners are threatening to pull out.  Bushnaq blamed the 
aggressive DVD pirates who sell new-release U.S. films (still 
screening in theaters in the States), which hit Amman's 
streets within a week of their premieres.  END NOTE.  Econoff 
and Bushnaq saw all current top-ten films showing in U.S. 
theaters being widely sold.  Bushnaq said  many optical media 
copies had come in from neighboring countries, especially 
Syria; some master copies are flown in from Asia.  Malaysia 
or Thailand were two common sources, he noted.  He did not 
believe that disc-copying was a growing concern in Jordan, 
however.  COMMENT:  The quality of the pirated DVD's is 
patchy and hawkers have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude.  Most 
are "theater quality" products, meaning they had been 
videotaped by a camera set up on a tripod in the back of the 
theater.  The picture is flat-looking and one can hear a 
regular chorus of theater noises - coughing, laughter, etc. 
END COMMENT 
 
8.  (SBU) Bushnaq expressed agitation that while in the 
previous week GoJ officials had raided two of the seven 
stores visited, the enforcement team had confiscated only a 
handful of pirated DVDs.  Bushnaq explained that the proposed 
new enforcement philosophy was to confiscate only enough 
evidence to bring a case to court.  He thought this policy 
kept the pirates open; he would use the pirated new releases 
he had bought in the two just-raided stores to make the case 
for more vigorous action by GoJ officials and to inform U.S. 
right holders, he said.  NOTE: When the National Library 
later learned that Econoff had been observing pirating 
activities in central Amman, its Director General secured 
police protection and raided the three biggest vendors 
downtown a few days later, Bushnaq reported.  They returned 
to their old tactics and had confiscated hundreds of DVD's, 
he noted. END NOTE. 
 
9.  (SBU) Bushnaq was also critical of the judiciary.  He had 
filed dozens of cases, he noted, and the embarrassment of a 
court appearance was enough to stop some pirates.  But a 
successful prosecution usually resulted in a fine of only 
10-20 JD ($14-28).  When the new copyright law went into 
effect last March, the pirates were running scared because of 
new fines of up to 6,000 JD (twice the old fines), he noted. 
Now, they just laughed because none of the judges were 
imposing the tough new penalties under the copyright law. 
Instead, judges continued to use the more lenient criminal 
law.  Bushnaq says he will urge Judicial Council head 
Mohammad Raqad to emphasize the need for continued IP 
training of a reliable cadre of judges.  There were already a 
few such justices on the bench, but more needed training, he 
said. 
IPR Public Awareness the Next Step 
---------------------------------- 
10.  (SBU) The National Library is now looking to widen the 
base of its public support in Jordan through a public 
awareness campaign.  The USAID Achievement of Market-Friendly 
Initiatives and Results (AMIR) Program is planning to provide 
an estimated $60,000 to the campaign, jointly run with JIPA. 
Eventually, the campaign will host events for the business 
community and the public, and advertise on billboards around 
Amman, said AMIR's Private Sector Policy Initiative Team 
Leader Greta Boye. 
 
11.  (SBU) In its initial stages, the campaign is focusing on 
placement of articles in the Arabic-language press based on 
press releases, features and interviews.  An interview with a 
law professor is scheduled for later in October, and an 
article on IP violators will appear next month.  By the end 
of the year, an IP awareness leaflet will be ready for 
distribution.  In addition, surveys will be conducted before 
and after the six-month IPR awareness campaign to gauge 
shifts in public awareness and/or attitudes. 
 
Policy-Level of GoJ Committed to IPR Protection 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
12.  (SBU) In an October 17 meeting with AMIR (attended by 
USAID and Econ Section officers), Minister of Industry and 
Trade Sharif Zu'bi stated that he was committed to a 
comprehensive approach to IPR issues, including amendments to 
the current law, but especially focused on implementation of 
existing ideas and on enforcement.  Zu'bi took on board that 
IPR protections as practiced daily in Jordan were not at the 
level that he and the National Library Director General 
wanted.  He asked his senior trade policy officer, Maha Ali, 
to coordinate another meeting of a group of public-private 
IPR stakeholders within the next few weeks.  This group 
includes officials from the police, library enforcement 
office, customs, security, trade ministry, standards, and 
other agencies, as well as private stakeholders such as JIPA 
and the local music industry.  Zu'bi repeated his desire to 
adhere to international standards and meet commitments in the 
U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement.  NOTE: Econoff noted to 
trade policy officer Ali that IPR issues had been raised in a 
September 13 exchange between Zu'bi and USTR Donnelley, and 
that they would remain of concern in the lead-up to the 
proposed FTA Joint Committee meeting to be hosted by Jordan 
in early 2006.  Ali, who had asked for a written list of 
concerns, acknowledged that the AMIR presentation was a good 
start -- it included a summary of a number of outstanding IPR 
issues related to the FTA. END NOTE. 
 
13.  (SBU) COMMENT: We believe that Trade Minister Zu'bi is 
likely to achieve more gains in IPR protection than his two 
predecessors.  But challenges to IPR protection in Jordan are 
not minor, and won't be completely or easily solved 
immediately.  Zu'bi is the first to acknowledge that a more 
forceful champion for IPR issues must emerge out of the 
nascent public-private partnership on IPR.  If the public 
awareness campaign succeeds, we may see more members of the 
concerned industries -- and especially the local music 
industry -- take a more proactive role.  For now, repeated 
voicing of USG concerns, AMIR's active consultancy, and the 
ongoing IPR public awareness campaign have given IPR 
protection a new urgency at the Ministry of Industry and 
Trade. 
 
14.  (U) Next installment on IPR:  Gaps in the 
Legal-Regulatory Framework. 
RUBINSTEIN