Jordan Times
Wednesday, September 1, 2004
Fake goods steal close to 10%
of world's legitimate trade, Jordanian forum told
Amman (JT) — Criminals peddling fake goods are stealing close to 10 per cent of
the world's legitimate trade, warned a keynote speaker at the recently-concluded
Jordan IP (intellectual property) Week 2004.
One of six hot-button topics discussed during the second annual conference held
in Amman, the counterfeiting workshop tackled the impact of piracy and
counterfeiting on sectors ranging from information technology to public health.
“Counterfeiting in the international market is estimated at seven to eight per
cent globally, with over $300 billion lost to rights' holders each year,”
revealed Peter Fowler, senior counsel, Office of Enforcement of the United
States Patent and Trademark Organisation (USPTO).
“These estimates are quoted from the International Chamber of Commerce, and are
viewed as being generally very conservative,” remarked Fowler.
With a sharp focus on protecting intellectual property, the conference also
covered franchising and licensing, pharmaceuticals, research and development,
the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and the Madrid Protocol, plus the role of
the judiciary.
IP Week attracted hundreds of influential local, regional and international
figures from both public and private sector organisations embracing academia,
the biomedical community and the judiciary.
“We were pleasantly surprised with the attendance during the two-day workshops,”
said JIPA Chairman Murad Bushnaq. “Attendance was high, especially in the
judges,' counterfeiting and franchising and licensing workshops. We are
definitely looking at this as a positive phenomenon where the understanding of
IP seems to be infiltrating into the mindset of the various audiences in the
Jordanian and regional markets.”
The franchising workshop noted the importance of franchising laws and the
business benefits franchising can bring to Jordan. Recommendations from this
session included conducting a feasibility study to discover the sectors most
receptive to franchise arrangements in addition to streamlining their
introduction.
Also mooted was a dedicated franchising department representing small- and
medium-sized enterprises and backed by a support network of allied businesses.
Among other controversial subjects, the pharmaceutical session showed how patent
searches and a strong knowledge of patent claims can be used by industry
insiders to find out if their products have infringed any patent. It is a grey
area since patents, copyrights and trade secrets are used to shield intellectual
property, but may not be enforced in all situations.
The International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI) also gave an assessment
of Jordan's pharmaceutical and biomedical institutional infrastructure.
The session ended with suggestions to galvanise the relationship between the
pharmaceutical industry and academia and the expectation that rigorous
international IP regulations like TRIPS will attract multinational pharma firms
to conduct R&D in Jordan.
The judges' session focused on the international framework of IP, enforcement of
Intellectual Property Rights and an in-depth discussion of criminal prosecutions
covering procedures, critical evidence and penalties.
The penultimate workshop discussed the international registration of trademarks
under the Madrid Protocol and the PCT with speakers from the World Intellectual
Property Organisation (WIPO) and the USPTO.
The final session was devoted to research and development centres and their
relationship with businesses. Topics ranged from open source and commercial
software to various strategies to boost private expenditure on R&D. The workshop
also delved into managing primary intellectual property research, policy
development, design and implementation.
Jordan IP Week 2004 was backed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the
Department of the National Library, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of
Planning and International Cooperation.
It also had support from the WIPO, IIPI and the USPTO.
Other sponsors included the Business Software Alliance, Microsoft, British
American Tobacco, Jordanian Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and
International Business Legal Associates.