More is Needed to Protect IPRs – Experts Argue
26 Apr 2007By Sandra Halteh & Bashar Al Ashhab
AMMAN - Celebrating the World Intellectual Property (IP) Day, regional and international experts expressed controversial stands regarding the protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) worldwide. However, they agreed that it is necessary to be more stringent in enforcing the IP laws.
Director of the Jordanian National Library Mamoun Al Talhouni
“We believe that Intellectual Property Rights in general and copyright in particular are considered part of human rights, hence protecting them will provide a suitable and appropriate infrastructure which stimulates creativity among our youth, contributes in creating an attractive economic environment and increases employment opportunities,” he said.
“Therefore, the Jordanian National Library along with King Abdullah II Center for Intellectual Property and the Jordanian Intellectual Property Association launched an awareness campaign which targeted the public, different universities and the business sector in order to raise and update their awareness in regards to these rights,” Al Talhouni added.
On the occasion of the World IP Day, Al Talhouni called on all those whose IPRs are being violated to speak out. “We urge those who feel their IPRs are being infringed to speak [out] to stop the infringers,” he noted.
On the occasion of the World IP Day, Al Talhouni called on all those whose IPRs are being violated to speak out. “We urge those who feel their IPRs are being infringed to speak [out] to stop the infringers,” he noted.
Talhouni said that he hopes that various government authorities would cooperate fully with the National Library to decrease the levels of piracy and uphold copyright laws in the Kingdom.
BSA , Aly Harakeh
In regards to the effectiveness of the awareness campaigns, Aly Harakeh the Business Software Alliance (BSA) member company representative / Microsoft pointed out, “Awareness campaigns that promote respect of IPRs need to be done as part of nation-wide campaigns and not sporadically.
According to Harakeh, these campaigns should target government administrations (leading by example), business associations (business ethics), academic institutions (civic education curriculum) and the general public.
“Arab countries that have adopted such an approach have managed to decrease piracy rates significantly and gained from the influx of additional investments in the IP industry such as software, music, media, advertising and pharmaceuticals,” he highlighted.
Director of the Industrial Property Protection Directorate at the Ministry of Industry and Trade Khaled Arabeyyat
Arabeyyat underlined the history and the future of IP legislations in Jordan.
“Jordan is considered one of the countries with advanced IP legislations in general and industrial property in particular which date back to the 1930s,” he said.
Arabeyyat noted that these legislations were amended in 1999 in order to comply with the international standards in this field. In addition to that, new legislations have been added such as the law on geographical indications, trade secrets, unfair competition and the protection of layout designs of integrated circuits.
Preparations are underway to join a number of agreements administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization such as Madrid Protocol and the Patent Corporation Treaty (PCT).
"In order to regroup all the efforts working to fight counterfeiting, the government decided to establish a national IPRs commission that is comprised from both the public and private sectors," Arabiyyat said.
Patents Manager / Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP) Ahmad M. Al-Zu'bi
Al-Zu'bi pointed out that protecting IPRs will provide the country exclusive rights in the market and therefore, prevents others from the use of inventions without authorization from the patent holders.
“The Arab region has suffered from the lack of proper IPRs protection, but recently the awareness is increasing due to the implementation of new and existing laws. In addition, the majority of the Arab countries are planning to join international IP conventions and agreements which include; Patent Corporation Treaty, World Trade Organization, agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) and Madrid Protocol,” he added.
According to Al-Zu’bi, raising awareness is the full responsibility of government agencies as well as non-government agencies (NGOs) mainly the Ministry of Industrial and Trade and other agencies like Jordan Intellectual Property Association.
He stated that a study by Kristina M. Lybecker from Drexel University in which she compared between weak and strong IPRs regimes in the developing countries for both minimal enforcement and strong enforcement. Lybecker found out that the percentage of counterfeited branded pharmaceuticals will increase; on the other hand the generic products will disappear so the consumer's choice is eliminated.
The study shows that when there is a full enforcement of IPRs , the percentage of counterfeits decreases and more consumers will purchase original branded drugs.
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