IP in Syria Challenges and Prospect

 Syria is seeking to be a part of the new world economy and the ever-expanding globalized trade circle. Its economic reform policies, aiming to bring it closer to the standards necessary to enter the World Trade Organization (WTO) have been ongoing. It is all too clear that the Syrian authorities are determined to make Syria an active player in the international economic arena.
 
 On a macroeconomic level, though, the lofty goals clash with the reality of a recovering economy and procedural hindrances negatively affecting a more rapid compliance with IP rights. There are several challenges to the tendency for changing the status quo of IP in Syria, such as the ambivalence between an ineffective 1946 law, and a draft law not yet passed.
 
 Also needed is a wider modernization of the application and registration process; but with the governmentally sponsored computerization sweeping through the public administration, this shall not be a problem in the near future. Naturally, further revisions of legislations and simplification of procedures supported by continuous training programs for the middle management shall facilitate the whole IP situation in the country.
 
 Motivations for the official movement towards strengthening IP protection were abundant. Among these we observe the practice of illegal use and registration of foodstuff trademarks. The drastic measures taken by the government have started to be rewarding through increasingly minimizing such infringements.
 
 The tightening of penalties has recently resulted in the confiscation of goods and closure of more than twenty factories for infringing upon the others’ marks.
 
 Syria’s efforts to improve the IP situation have an international dimension as it seeks to join all international agreements related to IP protection. In 2002, it has become a signatory country to the Paris Agreement/Stockholm Act, and is now seeking to join the ‘Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, the ‘Patent Cooperation Treaty,’ the Nice Convention Concerning the International Classification of Trademarks and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
 
 It is about to establish a website and utilize a program prepared by a WIPO expert from Egypt with respect to industrial models. As for patents, Syria seeks to make them accessible to the public through the Bassel Annual Exhibition for Creation and Invention. Currently, there are 83190 trademarks, 13495 models and 5245 foreign and local patents.