Jordan Times
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Intellectual Property Week
2004 opens
By Rami Abdelrahman
AMMAN — More focus should be geared towards persuading the public of the
importance and benefits of applying Intellectual Property in the Kingdom, a
senior official said yesterday.
Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of
Industry and Trade Mohammad Halaiqa yesterday opened the Intellectual Property
Week 2004, urging IP specialists and organisations to start a nationwide
campaign explaining how Intellectual Property is beneficial to the people.
“We need to inform students that when they buy original software instead of
illegal copies they are paying for somebody else's hard work,” Halaiqa later
told a meeting of IP specialists.
The minister pointed out that creating public awareness on IP will help ensure
that people are able to differentiate between original products and
counterfeited products, and this is as important as building awareness among
producers that they should register their products.
In a lecture on the importance of private and public sector partnership in
stimulating innovations and inventions, Professor Mike Ryan of the School of
Business at Georgetown University said Jordan's focus on Intellectual Property
provides a special opportunity for economic development, as it will encourage
people to patent innovative ideas.
Held for the second time in two years and still the first of its kind in the
region, the IP week focuses on new discussion topics such as franchising and
brand management, counterfeit, research and development centres and businesses.
The agenda also includes special sessions on the pharmaceuticals industry and
legal sessions for judges, in addition to sessions on the Madrid Protocol, an
international system that records and protects trademarks.
The Kingdom will join a World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) union
for international registration of trademarks before the end of 2004, Halaiqa
said during a previous IP meeting.
Joining such treaties is required by the Free-Trade Agreement between the United
States and Jordan, and other similar trade agreements.