Summary

Novelty requirement in Jordan is absolute novelty which is not only limited to the country. Once an application for the grant of a patent is filed, it is examined with respect to compliance with the formalities and patentability provided for under the patent law. If no priority is claimed, the Jordanian patent office asks for the WIPO assistance with regards to the substantive examination of the patent that is filed in Jordan without claiming priority. If the Jordanian application claims priority of US or EP application, thus, the patent office will consider the results that will be issued from these patent offices (US or EP). It is worth mentioning that the only
considerable results are the ones that issued from the EP and US patent offices only.

An application should be filed in Jordan within 12 months as of the date of the first international publication, or within 12 months as of the date of the first filing in order to claim priority, which must be in accordance with the application filed in the home country.

Amendment of patent application is possible before the official grant of the subject patent, provided that said amendments do not exceed what has been disclosed in the original application.

A novelty examination takes into consideration any specification previously lodged with the Patent Office or any patent previously registered. The Patent Office may require whatever amendments it deems necessary to bring the application into conformity with the law. In case the applicant does not comply with the requirements of the Patent Office as authorized by the Registrar of Patents, the Registrar will reject the application.

The law allows for the protection of chemical products relating to medical drugs, pharmaceutical compositions or food.

An applicant is entitled to appeal against the requirements and conditions of the Patent Office by means of submitting a petition to the High Court of Justice, within the period that is given in the Registrar’s decision letter. Approved applications are published in the Official Gazette and are rendered open to public inspection. Any party may oppose the grant of a patent within 3 months as of the date of publication. The opposition notice is submitted to the Registrar of Patents. If no opposition against the grant of a patent is filed, the letters patent is granted after payment of the prescribed fees.

The term of patent protection in Jordan is 20 years as from the filing date. The application is subject to the payment of the prescribed annuity fees due, after issuance of the letters patent, from the filing date in Jordan. A grace period of 6 months, from the due date, is granted to the owners of registered patents to pay the due fees. If this is the case, the official fees have to be paid in double.

The right to a patent may be assigned, transferred through succession or license. The assignment of granted patents must be made in writing. An assignment will have no effect against third parties, unless it has been published in the Official Gazette and duly entered in the relevant records of the Patent Office.

As per the Jordanian patent law, the granted patent must be used with three years of the grant date; otherwise, this patent may be subject to compulsory license. The compulsory license is applicable by applying for a request to the Minister in which he decides all the following steps and the fair compensation to the patent owner.
The rights conferred by a patent on the registered patentee expire on the lapse of the protection period as prescribed by the law, lawful assignment of the patent rights, final court decision to this effect, or nonpayment of the annuity fees within 6 months after the respective due date.

Infringement of the rights of a patentee is penalized under the provisions of the current patent law in Jordan.