VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMS #0582/01 1610701
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 100701Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY MUSCAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8365
INFO RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC

UNCLAS MUSCAT 000582 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE NEA/ARP, INL, EEB/TPP/MTA/IPC 
COMMERCE FOR ITA COBERG, USPTO DPOGODA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR MU
SUBJECT: OMAN PROPOSAL FOR IPR ENFORCEMENT TRAINING 
 
REF: STATE 55928 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. (U) The Omani government is committed to protecting 
intellectual property, as evidenced by its efforts to 
strengthen its legal framework and willingness to work with 
the USG and other international organizations in raising 
awareness of the issue.  Enforcement concerns remain, 
however, and Omani officials would welcome further technical 
assistance from U.S. counterparts to help improve the 
Sultanate's enforcement capabilities, especially in light of 
the U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement (FTA).  Types of 
assistance and training needed include programs that 
illustrate best practices in patent processing, 
investigations of satellite and software piracy, and 
techniques used to discern real from counterfeit products. 
End Summary. 
 
--------------- 
Legal Framework 
--------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Under the FTA, Oman has committed itself to providing 
strong intellectual property rights protection.  The 
government is finalizing new industrial property and 
copyright laws to comply with its obligations prior to the 
FTA's entry into force.  In addition, Oman is strengthening 
its industrial property regulations, and will introduce new 
optical disc regulations and a decree controlling the 
government's use of software.  Under its FTA obligations, 
Oman will provide increased IPR protection for copyrights, 
trademarks, geographical indications, and patents.  Oman will 
also improve enforcement and protection of undisclosed test 
data from unfair commercial use. 
 
¶3. (U) These revisions will build upon Oman's existing IPR 
regime, already strengthened by the passage of WTO-consistent 
intellectual property laws in 2000 on copyrights, trademarks, 
industrial secrets, geographical indications and integrated 
circuits.  Currently under Oman's TRIPs-compliant trademark 
law, trademarks must be registered and noted in the Official 
Gazette through the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. 
Oman's copyright protection law extends protection to foreign 
copyrighted literary, technical, or scientific works; works 
of the graphic and plastic arts; and sound and video 
recordings.  In order to receive protection, a 
foreign-copyrighted work must be registered with the Omani 
government by depositing a copy of the work with the 
government and paying a fee.  Since January 1999, the 
government has enforced copyright protection for audio and 
videocassettes, and destroyed stocks of pirated cassettes 
seized from vendors.  The government did not extend 
protection to foreign-copyrighted software until late 1998, 
when it declared that retailers must halt the importation and 
sale of non-licensed software by July 1, 1999. 
 
¶4. (U) Oman joined the World Intellectual Property 
Organization (WIPO) in February 1997, and registered as a 
signatory to the Paris and Berne conventions on intellectual 
property protection in July 1999.  Oman acceded to the WIPO 
Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms 
Treaty in September 2005.  In April 2007, the Omani 
government announced its intention to accede to several 
international IPR conventions and treaties, including the 
1974 Convention Relating to the Distribution of 
Programme-Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellites; the 
1977 Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the 
Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent 
Procedure; the 1989 Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement 
Concerning the International Registration of Marks; the 1991 
International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties 
of Plants; the 1994 Trademark Law Treaty; and the 2000 Patent 
Law Treaty. 
 
-------------------------- 
Processing IP Applications 
-------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The Ministry of Commerce and Industry's 
Intellectual Property Department is charged with processing 
intellectual property applications.  The department employs 
eight people, with an additional four staff members employed 
on a temporary basis (with one of those on loan from a legal 
firm).  The department, headed by a director, entails four 
offices, and uses another room and the adjacent hallway for 
the storage of files.  In addition to the director, ten staff 
members work on trademarks, while one works on copyrights. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Almost all of the department's work consists of 
trademark applications.  Trademark searches are conducted 
through WIPO's electronic database, which it updates 
periodically.  The Ministry maintains a card filing system to 
record local information on trademark applications.  There 
are about 45,000 files on record, stored in six cabinets in a 
hallway, as well as in cabinets located in two other rooms. 
 
¶7. (SBU) There is one staff member in the department who 
dedicates her time to processing copyright certificates for 
music, films, and pictures.  She issues certificates 
recognizing the department's receipt of applications.  Her 
office works with the court system in the enforcement of 
copyrights; recordkeeping is done by hand in the Arabic 
language.  Copyright files are located in a Kardex filing 
cabinet.  Copyright information is recorded in a large book; 
there is no database.  The department does not conduct 
electronic searches.  As the workload for copyrights is not 
that great, the staff member spends the balance of her time 
working on trademark searches. 
 
¶8. (SBU) The department accepts patent applications, but only 
provides the applicant a priority date for when the documents 
were filed with the Ministry.  There are three cabinets in a 
hallway that store patent applications.  Most patent work 
(1500 files) is related to supporting Oman's commitments to 
the Patent Cooperation Treaty.  Computer support comes from 
the respective department elsewhere in the Ministry. 
 
------------------- 
Enforcement Efforts 
------------------- 
 
¶9. (U) In October 2005, the government designated the 
Ministry of Commerce and Industry as the primary 
investigative authority on intellectual property issues, 
whose efforts are supported by the Royal Oman Police (ROP). 
To improve inter-ministerial coordination, a committee 
consisting of members from the Ministry of Commerce and 
Industry, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Heritage and 
Culture and the ROP meets regularly to review intellectual 
property concerns.  Enforcement of the copyright protection 
decree by this committee has been effective, as once 
plentiful pirated video and audiotapes and computer software 
have largely disappeared from local vendors' shelves.  For 
example, in 2006, the government conducted a series of 
coordinated sweeps that netted over 40,000 counterfeited 
media products. 
 
¶10. (U) Nonetheless, under-the-counter sales of unauthorized 
software and DVDs persist in various locations, and 
authorities continue to grapple with effective enforcement 
measures against such sales.  To assist government efforts, 
the private sector has been active in promoting awareness and 
enforcement of intellectual property rights.  For example, in 
late October 2003, 16 Omani companies signed the Business 
Software Alliance (BSA) Code of Ethics.  The number of firms 
pledging compliance has now grown to almost 40.  The Code of 
Ethics declares that signatories will neither commit nor 
tolerate the manufacture, or use or distribution of 
unlicensed software and will only supply licensed software to 
customers.  The BSA recently began running joint 
advertisements with the Ministry in efforts to combat 
software piracy, and the government signed a three-year 
contract with Microsoft Corporation in 2006 for the use of 
the company's licensed products. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Despite these steps, software piracy remains a 
concern.  While Oman's efforts to protect IPR have received 
some praise from the BSA, the organization reported in its 
2005 study of software piracy that Oman had made scant 
progress in reducing its piracy rate, which stood at 62%, 
only a single point lower than the rate for 2004.  By 
contrast, the overall rate for the Middle East was 57%, with 
the UAE registering the region's lowest figure at 34%.  The 
BSA remains concerned that enforcement efforts are not 
sufficient, and that penalties aren't strong enough to serve 
as a deterrent. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Satellite signal theft also remains a concern.  The 
Ministry of Commerce and Industry has staged sporadic raids 
on unlicensed distributors of pirated satellite signals in 
response to industry complaints, but industry representatives 
note that piracy still persists.  Showtime Arabia officials 
described the extent to which cable splitting had permeated 
military installations, private sector facilities, and 
apartment residences.  Showtime officials also expressed 
concern about the recent trend of selling encrypted signals 
over broadband lines, as well as satellite receiver box 
manufacturers selling units that by-pass security access 
codes.  The Embassy has raised these concerns with the 
Ministry, which has worked previously with Showtime Arabia to 
address similar issues.  The Ministry pledged to raise 
specific information provided by Showtime Arabia with 
colleagues at the ROP, but the problem persists. 
 
------------------------- 
International Cooperation 
------------------------- 
 
¶13. (U) The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in 
coordination with WIPO, has conducted a number of seminars to 
raise national awareness of the importance of protecting 
intellectual property, such as the "WIPO International 
Seminar on the Strategic Use of Intellectual Property for 
Economic and Social Development."  This seminar, featuring 
experts from both the public and private sectors, stressed 
the importance of IPR protection towards creating a conducive 
atmosphere for innovation and economic growth.  Oman has also 
worked closely with the United States Patent and Trademark 
Office (USPTO) in the area of intellectual property rights 
protection.  Several Omani officials from the Ministries of 
Commerce and Industry, Justice, and Health, and the ROP, have 
traveled to the United States for IPR training.  Furthermore, 
the USPTO hosted IPR awareness and enforcement seminars for 
government officials in January and December 2006. 
 
----------------- 
Assistance Needed 
----------------- 
 
¶14. (U) Acknowledging the limitations in processing IP 
applications and difficulties in enforcing IPR, especially 
with advances in technology, the Ministry of Commerce and 
Industry welcomes further technical assistance from the USG 
in these areas.  Such assistance would send a strong signal 
to the Omani government that the USG is committed to building 
the necessary skills for Oman to serve as an active partner 
in the protection of intellectual property. 
 
¶15. (SBU) A pressing priority is the strengthening of the 
Ministry of Commerce and Industry's intellectual property 
office.  The office is inexperienced in processing 
applications pertaining to patents, geographical indications, 
and integrated circuits.  During the implementation phase of 
the FTA, Omani interlocutors have acknowledged this 
deficiency and have asked for technical assistance in 
addressing these shortcomings.  An intensive training program 
conducted by the USPTO in Muscat would enable the staff 
members to learn about appropriate techniques for processing 
such applications beyond providing only a priority acceptance 
date. 
 
¶16. (U) On enforcement, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry 
has indicated a need for its staff to become better 
acquainted with best practices in investigative techniques, 
especially as they relate to satellite and software piracy. 
A seminar for Omani officials by appropriate U.S. law 
enforcement officials and the private sector would enable the 
Omani government to better execute investigations that lead 
to prosecutions.  The government also has inquired about a 
training module from appropriate USG agencies that would 
strengthen the ability of Omani customs and investigative 
officials in distinguishing between genuine and fake products 
in their efforts to eradicate counterfeits in the main 
shopping areas of Muscat and to stop them from entering Oman 
from the United Arab Emirates. 
 
¶17. (U) Embassy looks forward to utilizing this program to 
enhance the Sultanate's ability to protect intellectual 
property in a free trade environment.  Embassy point of 
contact on this matter is Economic/Commercial officer Brian 
Grimm, telephone number: (968) 24-698-989, extension 332, 
email: GrimmBM@state.gov. 
GRAPPO