Abu-Ghazaleh Urges African Countries to Join the Forum; 2012 IP Roadmap in Arabic Launched

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1 February 2012 AGIP Ranked Number One in Patent Work for 2012 Page 2 TAG-Org Participates in IGF s Consultations and MAG Meeting in Geneva Page 3 Tenth Edition of Nice Classification Adopted Page 3 IDN cctld Request from Pakistan Successfully Passes String Evaluation Page 4 Abu-Ghazaleh Urges African Countries to Join the Forum; 2012 IP Roadmap in Arabic Launched GENEVA - HE Dr. Talal Abu- Ghazaleh, president of the Licensing Executives Society- Arab Countries (LES-AC) said that the Society concentrates its efforts to promote significance of licensing and technology transfer in the Arab region through various programs especially in training and qualification and by issuing the Arab Certified IP Licensing Practitioner Certificate. In his keynote speech during the LESI Annual Meeting which was held in Geneva- Switzerland, Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh highlighted the activities conducted by the Society especially the Licensing Opportunities Forum (LOF) which is organized by the Society annually in cooperation with Arab and international organizations. HE Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh headed a panel discussion during the LES International Global Technology Impact Forum (GTIF) 2012 which focused on promoting the commercialization of Intellectual Property (IP) and technology transfer to boost economic growth in the Arab countries. Dr. Haidar Fraihat, director of ICT Division at UN-ESCWA, Ms. Sara Holder; country manager at Rouse Global IP firm, and Dr. Heinz Goddar; past president of LES-Germany, and LES-AC honorary board member took part in the discussion. Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh stressed on the need for the African countries to be present in the GTIF stating that more awareness and knowledge in the licensing and technology transfer fields should be disseminated saying that the LES-AC is ready to establish a society for the African countries. During the event, LESI declared several IP market and industry announcements including the 2012 Intellectual Property Roadmap in Arabic: Current and Emerging Issues for Business and Policymakers which will be launched by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The IP Roadmap is an invaluable tool to bring policymakers and business leaders worldwide up to date on IP-related issues, from measures to control copyright and trademark infringement on the Internet to the mediation in IP disputes, in addition to the Innovated Technology Property Exchange ( ITPE) US and China Equity Index, and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Basic Valuation Primer. The LESI Global Technology Impact Forum (GTIF), hosted by the Licensing Executives Society International, Inc. (LESI), developed to coordinate and publicize the efforts of premier global non-profit and non-governmental organizations dedicated to the promotion of IP licensing and technology transfer for the betterment of mankind. Invited organizations are representative of three interest groups: IP Protection and Harmonization; Trade and Economic Development; and Technology Transfer and Standards. Among the strategic partners the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Founded in 1997, the mission of the LES-AC is to provide the Arab world with professional executives in the fields of licensing and technology transfer as well as developing the economic growth by encouraging, facilitating and enforcing Intellectual Property (IP) licensing and Research and Development (R&D) investment. LES-AC is the first Arab regional non-profit society specialized in licensing and technology transfer. LES-AC is the regional representative of the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI), which includes 32 national and regional associations worldwide. Visit for more information. 1

2 AGIP Ranked Number One in Patent Work for 2012 AMMAN was ranked in Tier One in patent prosecution and contentious work, according to an annual survey conducted by Managing Intellectual Property (MIP). international magazine for IP owners, with more than 8,000 readers across the globe. MIP is published 10 times a year and includes news, data, in-depth articles and interviews with influential IP figures. AGIP has been placed in the top ten in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the UAE which indicates an overall strength of AGIP s patent portfolio with a combined measure for quality and quantity. We are extremely pleased to be recognized as the number one patent firm in the latest MIP patent survey, said AGIP Executive Director, Mr. Charles Shaban. This recognition further validates AGIP s commitment to developing both innovative and quality services. We aim to keep our number one ranking by developing new and unique services to address clients needs, he added. AGIP enjoys an international reputation for excellence with offices throughout the Arab countries, in addition to India, Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, Cyprus, China and Afghanistan, and an extensive network of 180 liaison and correspondent offices worldwide. Managing Intellectual Property (MIP) was founded in It is now firmly established as the leading AGIP Participates in INTA 134th Annual Meeting in Washington D.C will be participating in the International Trademark Association (INTA) 134th Annual Meeting in Washington D.C, May 5-9, The following AGIP members will be attending this event: 1. Luay T. Abu-Ghazaleh 2. Charles Shaban (Regional Office) 3. Dima Naber (Regional Office) 4. Nabil Salame (Montreal Liaison Office) 5. Ahmad Hussein (Morocco Office) 6. Amjad Husseini (UAE Office) 7. Khaled Battash (Egypt Office) 8. Amro Hattab (Jordan Office) 9. Ali Hijazi (Libya Office) 10. Ridab Abutaleb (China Office) AGIP delegation will be staying at the Renaissance Washington, D.C. Downtown Hotel (Headquarters Hotel); Mount Vernon Square A & B Meeting Rooms will be prepared especially to host AGIP meetings with its clients or receive your inquiries about China and our offices worldwide. In order to schedule a meeting with one or more of AGIP representatives, please contact us at inta@agip.com 2

3 TAG-Org Participates in IGF s Consultations and MAG Meeting in Geneva GENEVA -, member of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAG-Org), Executive Director, Charles Sha ban, took part in the Open Consultations and Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) held in Geneva, February 14-16, The meeting s consultations held on day first with MAG members and multistakeholders (governments, private and civil society) focused on comments received on the 2011 IGF meeting. They also focused on the preparation of the 2012 IGF meeting to take place in Baku, Azerbaijan. On the following two days, the MAG members discussed the subjects raised in the consultations after being summarized by the IGF Secretariat, mainly the structure. They also worked on a draft which contains the main themes and sub-themes of the IGF 2012 that should be available on the IGF website early next March. Sha ban said: IGF is a truly Multistakeholder forum which different stakeholder groups can participate in and take part in policy discussions related to Internet Governance. As MAG member, we appreciate the confidence of the UN Secretary General in choosing us to represent the Arab private sector. Sha ban has been a member of the MAG for the last six years. Tenth Edition of Nice Classification Adopted Arab Emirates with effect from January 1, As of the aforementioned date, the Trademark Offices in these countries have been accepting trademark applications for goods and services under the same edition of the classification. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), there are major changes to the classification system. highlights some of the substantive changes as follows: AMMAN - The Tenth Edition of the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks under the Nice Agreement (Nice Classification) has been adopted in Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Syria and the United - Classification of dietary and nutritional supplements and food additives (in Classes 5, 29, 30 and 31) - Video gaming apparatus (in Classes 9 and 28) - Electrically powered goods (in Classes 7, 8 and 9) - Babies nappies/ diapers (in Classes 5, 16 and 25) In addition, minor changes have been made to other items across other classes as well as class headings, explanatory notes and general remarks. The US Authorizes Certain IP Transactions with Respect to Syria DAMASCUS The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury has issued on February 22, 2012 the General License No. 15 authorizing certain transactions related to Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights.The following transactions that would otherwise be prohibited by Executive Order in connection with patent, trademark, copyright, or other Intellectual Property protection in the United States or Syria are authorized: Filing and prosecution of any application in order to obtain a patent, trademark, copyright, or other form of intellectual property protection. Receipt of patent, trademark, copyright, or other form of intellectual property protection. Renewal or maintenance of patent, trademark, copyright, or other form of intellectual property protection. Filing and prosecution of any opposition or infringement proceeding with respect to patent, trademark, copyright, or other form of intellectual property protection, or the entrance of a defense to any such proceeding. According to this general license, the payment of fees due to the American Government or the Syrian Government is authorized, and the payment of the reasonable and customary fees and charges currently due to attorneys or representatives within the United States or Syria is also authorized. 3

4 Saudi Arabia Jails Piracy Trader in Landmark Case RIYADH - Saudi Arabia has sentenced a piracy trader in a landmark judgment, the country s Board of Grievances (BOG) said in a statement. According to alarabiya.net, a Saudi court jailed the offender after a retail outlet and warehouse had been raided a total of seven times since 2006, resulting in the seizure of over 100,000 counterfeit products and several reproduction equipment. Each of the first six offences resulted in escalating fines. However, following the seventh raid in 2010, the Minister of Information recommended to the highest judiciary authority, the BOG, that the offender be imprisoned. Saudi Arabia holds the highest piracy rate in the Gulf region at 60 per cent, the BOG said in a statement. This is a very important victory for anti-piracy advocates as it is the firstever court judgement in Saudi Arabia IDN cctld Request from Pakistan Successfully Passes String Evaluation resulting in imprisonment, Arabian Anti Piracy Alliance Chief Executive Officer, Scott Butler, said in a statement. Pirate activities have already resulted in huge losses for the Saudi economy, with studies indicating that reduction of piracy rates could have potentially yielded up to $1 billion in GDP in the past two years. This clearly represents a huge incentive for the Saudi government to step up its efforts to break up pirate syndicate, Butler added MARINA DEL REY. CA - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced in a press release the successful completion of String Evaluation on proposed IDN cctld string for Pakistan. Details of the successful evaluation are provided here: org/en/topics/idn/fast-track/stringevaluation-completion-p-en.htm#pk. The IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) cctld Fast Track Process was approved by the ICANN Board at its annual meeting in Seoul, South Korea on 30 October First requests were received starting 16 November The process enables countries and territories to submit requests to ICANN for IDN cctlds, representing their respective country or territory names in scripts other than Latin. IDN cctld requesters must fulfill a number of requirements: 1. the script used to represent the IDN cctlds must be non-latin; 2. the languages used to express the IDN cctlds must be official in the corresponding country or territory; and 3. a specific set of technical requirements must be met (as evaluated by an external DNS Stability Panel comprised of DNS and IDN experts). The request and evaluation processes entail three steps: Preparation (by the requester in the country / territory). Community consensus is built for which IDN cctld to apply for, how it is run, and which organization will be running it, along with preparing and gathering all the required supporting documentation. String Evaluation: incoming requests to ICANN in accordance with the criteria described above: the technical and linguistic requirements for the IDN cctld string(s). Applications are received through an online system available together with additional material supporting the process at fast-track/. String Delegation: requests successfully meeting string evaluation criteria are eligible to apply for delegation following the same ICANN IANA process as is used for ASCII based cctlds. String delegation requests are submitted to IANA root zone management. With this announcement, a total of 24 countries/territories requests have successfully passed through the String Evaluation. Of these, 17 countries/territories (represented by 27 IDN cctlds) are delegated in the DNS root zone; with the remainder either readying to apply, or actively applying for, delegation of the string. Up-to-date numbers about the IDN Fast Track Program will continue to be provided on the Fast Track Process web page at topics/idn/fast-track/ and at the ICANN Dashboard on Performance Metrics at ICANN is looking forward to enabling the availability of non-latin country-code domains for countries that qualify. ICANN will continue to accept applications for new requests in the Fast Track process, as well as processing requests through the String Delegation function. Staff support is available to help all countries and territories interested in participating in the Fast Track Process. Please idncctldrequests@icann.org for any inquiries for participation. This Bulletin is published by the Editorial Department of 2012 Reproduction is permitted provided that the source is acknowledged. For inquiries: agip@agip.com 4

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