IPRs Protection Division at Jordan Public Security Directorate Hard on the Heels of IPRs Violators
07-Jun-2012
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By Ibtisam Awadat
AMMAN - The Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) Protection Division at the Public Security Directorate carries out its mission in dealing with all sorts of IPRs infringements and currently addresses more advanced crimes using the Internet.
“We have dealt with a number of infringements on IPRs through the Internet; the latest was a Pirate Decryption case where the assailant decoded paid satellite stations’ frequencies by establishingedestablished a website outside Jordan to illegally sell accounts to customers,” said Head of the IPRs Protection Division Major Nader Al Salamat in an exclusive interview with ag-IP-news Agency.
“The ongoing changes and developments in the quality of crimes urge us at the Division to look for high tech means to encounter such violations and protect right holders,” he added.
Since its establishment back in 2008, the Division dealt with around 400 infringement cases; 268 out of which related to copyright, 80 to trademarks and the 50 rest cases were trade names infringements among others.
“The Division works on three angles: the precautionary which aims at preventing violations; the judiciary and legal that aims at following up the cases to recognize the offenders and bring them to justice, while the third is educational by promoting awareness on the need to protect IPRs,” Al Salamat said.
In its mission to protect intellectual and industrial rights, the Division coordinates with all concerned parties to enforce law with the public sector bodies such as Department of Nnational Library, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Jordan Customs Department, Jordan Food and Drug Administration, and maintains cooperation with the private sector entities including the Arab Society for Intellectual Property.
After receiving a complaint or confiscating a suspicious product, the Division contacts the original right holder to recognize if it’s authentic or not counterfeit. Then through investigation using all support and logistic apparatus at the Public Security Directorate mainly the criminal investigation labs, the criminal evidence labs directorate, the offender will be referred to court.
To upgrade the skills of its staff and keep them up-to-date with the latest techniques and methods used in following up IPRs infringement investigation and within its strategy for continued training, the Criminal Investigations Department organized a number of specialized training courses and workshops in this regard in cooperation with the concerned organizations with the participation of different sections of the Public Security Directorate in addition to participants from other Arab countries.
In several infringement cases, the Division in cooperation with Jordan FDA dealt with counterfeit medications which directly affected people’s health.
“The violations of IPRs are categorized into several crimes starting with the commercial fraud as the counterfeit items have no quality standards when manufactured nor have they the legal right,” Al Salamat explained.
Other effects include the economic loss affecting customers, right holders and the state’s Treasury not to forget the bad effect on the investment environment.
It’s worth mentioning that the US Special 301 Report, prepared annually by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), commended in 2009 the establishment of the Division in Jordan.
The report identifies trade barriers to US companies and products due to the intellectual property laws, such as copyright, patents and trademarks, in other countries.
“Jordan was not placed on this Report in the last three years which gives an indication that we are moving on the right track in protecting IPRs to help create a creative and innovative generation and contribute in creating the appropriate environment for investment in the Kingdom,” Al Salamat concluded.