The chairman of the Arab Society for Intellectual Property (ASIP) and chairman of the Working Group on Human Resources and Capacity Building (HRCB) of the United Nations Information and Communications Technologies (UN ICT TF) Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, stated that he sees no conflict between the global map of intellectual property (IP) and the Arab IP summarized map.
He said: “We as developing nations have more important basic priorities, but through taking care of these we will help ourselves and contribute to the general efforts being exerted by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) to organize the business society, in order for it to face the challenges and respond to opportunities in the global field of IP.”
This came in a lecture entitled “The IP Map..The World and US” that Abu-Ghazaleh delivered the day before yesterday at the Amman Chamber of Commerce at the invitation and organization of the Federation of Jordanian Chambers of Commerce. He clarified at the onset that IP is a complicated issue by any standard, regardless of any national system that wishes to take it into consideration. Yet when looking at it from a global point of view, it is hard to coordinate and make various national systems compatible, which are frequently in conflict, according to Abu-Ghazaleh.
He stated that in the past, that used to be a source of frustration, yet increasingly globalization has highlighted the conflict between national IP systems, and a call emanated from various parties to create a global system that was more rational and coordinated.
He added: “Due to the important role of IP in the global economy and the business society, the ICC is distributing an IP map that is revised annually. This map shows in detail the main topics that face business organizations relating to IP, which are:
The globalization of the economy, developing new technologies, increased economic significance of innovations and non-technical resources for business that are not protected by current IP systems. Also, another topic is integration of IP issues in policy and changes in work methods of business organizations.”
He followed this up by stating: “The map attempts to define the main IP topics that business organizations face, disclose what the ICC does at the present time, what type of support is needed from the business community, and what the role is of the government in addressing these issues. Based on this, then for us, and since we are members in the ICC or participants in IP, then we need to take a look at this global IP map and understand our relation to it with respect to the space we occupy in this globe. We need to ask ourselves: what are our priorities? Are we following this map, or a different one?”
Abu-Ghazaleh went on to say that while globalization and technological development challenges most business communities in various regions worldwide, each one of these has its own reference point through which it views these developments and responds to them accordingly. He said that one of the challenges of globalization for business organizations is the fact that patents and trademarks systems that have been developed at a previous stage are no longer appropriate for serving the global economy. He elaborated further that “while businesses and economy are moving more towards becoming global, IP is still mostly a national issue which creates conflict. Also, in many cases unfair conditions and financial losses for business organizations result from it. Accordingly, cooperation and the fulfillment of compatibility and moving toward the final objective which is global administration of IP are considered the major goals for many business societies worldwide.”
The president of the Federation of Jordanian Chambers of Commerce and the Amman Chamber of Commerce Mr. Haidar Murad pointed to the federation’s recognition of the significance of developments and new international variables on the economic front, since it is working tirelessly to raise awareness and knowledge in the kingdom’s business sector on all issues. This is being done to enable this sector to work in a more positive and transparent atmosphere, because economic openness and trade liberalization create many challenges for developing nations such as Jordan and its various economic sectors, according to Murad.
He concluded by saying: “We cannot face these challenges unless we follow modern methods of administration, production, promotion, and enhancing competitive capabilities. All this forces us to utilize the expertise of those knowledgeable, so that the path for progress towards a better future can be paved.”