[Ecommerce] US/Jordan IPR Menorandum of Understanding

[James Love]

At the last roundtable meeting I was asked to post the US/Jordan memo on
IPR, that requires Jordan to issue patents on software and business
methods.  This is in paragraph 5.  Jamie


http://www.ustr.gov/regions/eu-med/middleeast/memopro.pdf

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
ON ISSUES RELATED TO THE PROTECTION OF
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
UNDER THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND JORDAN
ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A FREE TRADE AREA

The Government of the United States of America (“United States”) and the
Government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (“Jordan”), recognizing
the need to promote adequate and effective protection of intellectual
property rights, to provide enhanced intellectual property protection to
account for the latest technological developments, and to promote
greater efficiency and transparency in the administration of
intellectual property systems in order to strengthen the international
trading
system;

Agree,
1. With respect to copies of works and phonograms that have been placed
on the market by the relevant right holder, the obligations described in
Article 4.11 of the Agreement Between the United States of America and
the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on the Establishment of a Free Trade
Area (“the Agreement”) shall apply only to books, journals, sheet music,
sound recordings, computer programs, and audio and visual works; i.e.,
categories of products in which the value of the copyrighted material
represents substantially all of the value of the product.
Notwithstanding the preceding, each Party shall be free to provide the
protection described in Article 4.11 to a broader range of goods.

2. Any Party permitting export of any product produced under the
authority provided in Article 4.19 of the Agreement, for purposes of
obtaining marketing approval in another country, shall require the
manufacturer to first certify to the relevant industrial property office
that such product will be exported only in sufficient quantity to meet
the requirements for obtaining marketing approval in the destination
country. 

3. With respect to Article 4.25 of the Agreement, Jordan shall raise its
criminal penalties to JD 6,000, so as to meet its obligation to ensure
that statutory maximum fines are sufficiently high to deter future acts
of infringement. 

4. Jordan shall take all steps necessary to ensure that where "use" is
defined in certain measures as importation in “large quantities at
reasonable prices,” such conditions on importation shall be deleted.

5. Jordan shall take all steps necessary to clarify that the exclusion
from patent protection of “mathematical methods” in Article 4(B) of
Jordan’s Patent Law does not include such "methods"as business methods
or computer-related inventions. 

6. Jordan shall take all steps necessary to clarify that Article 4(F) of
Jordan’s Patent Law shall be understood to exclude from patent
protection inventions whose application for registration for the first
time outside Jordan has been filed by the owner and published
more than eighteen months prior to the date of filing for registration
in Jordan. Thus, an inventor, who outside of Jordan files but then
withdraws a patent application prior to publication, shall be permitted
to file for a patent application in Jordan.

This Memorandum of Understanding shall enter into force on signature.
The obligations of this Memorandum of Understanding shall be implemented
upon the date of entry into force of the Agreement, with the exception
of paragraph 3, which shall be implemented within two years
from the date of entry into force of the Agreement. 

Done at Washington, in duplicate, this twenty-fourth day of October,
2000, which corresponds to this twenty-sixty day of Rajab, 1421, in the
English language. An Arabic language text shall be prepared, which shall
be considered equally authentic upon an exchange of diplomatic notes
confirming its conformity with the English language text. In the event
of a discrepancy, the English language text shall prevail.

FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE HASHEMITE KINGDOM OF JORDAN:
FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: