By Sandra Halteh

AMMAN - Officials at the Industrial Property Protection Directorate (IPPD) at the Jordanian Ministry of Industry and Trade revealed to ag-IP-news Agency that the year 2008 has witnessed a rise in the number of trademark applications and approvals compared to those of 2007.

The Directorate stated that the number of trademarks which received primary approval in 2008 totaled 7500 compared to 6843 for 2007; the increase's percentage reached up to 10%.

So far, final approvals have been granted to 6710 trademarks in 2008; whereas in 2007 about 6824 applications were approved.

The number of trademark applications submitted to the Directorate in 2008 totaled 9440 compared to 9150 in 2007; the increase's percentage reached up to 1%.

The Industrial Property Protection Directorate takes on the supervisory role of all matters related to the registration of trademarks, patents, industrial designs, models and integrated circuits as well as indexing them in an effort to provide the adequate protection in accordance with the current laws. The Directorate also handles all cooperation efforts with international organizations dealing with Intellectual Property.

From:www.ag-ip-news.com