Jordan wasn't as badly hit as many of its neighbouring Middle Eastern countries by the global economic downturn, but it is still experiencing a smaller number of applications for both trade marks and patents. "Although Jordan is a small country, the f...
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Jordan wasn't as badly hit as many of its neighbouring Middle Eastern countries by the global economic downturn, but it is still experiencing a smaller number of applications for both trade marks and patents. "Although Jordan is a small country, the financial crisis has had a real effect on the number of applications we have seen," as one partner puts it.
The effects of the economic downturn were largely down to restriction of clients' budgets for new IP work. But there have also been administrative problems, such as the increasing delays in issuing decisions on oppositions and cancellations. "It can take up to three years to reach a legal decision and it has become much more difficult for IP legal representatives to rely on prior High Court decisions," comments one lawyer. It wasn't all bad though: one welcome reform was the amendment of Jordan's trade mark law to make it more compatible with the Madrid Protocol.
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