“The activation of Article 20 is part of implementing the stipulations of patent procedures which were yet to be put in place,” says Ashin Chungath LL.M, IP consultant manager at Jah & Co. IP in Doha. “Jordan became a full member of the Patent Cooperation Treaty starting June 9, 2017 after its government deposited the instrument of accession past March 9 but at that stage no examination fees were declared or levied from applicants until now.”

The official fees include:

Direct deposit applications (Paris Agreement): د.ا10 (US$14)

International filing applications (PCT):

Individuals: د.ا 100 (US$141)

Companies: د.ا 200 (US$282)

All applicants must attend to the payment or the IPPD will send official requests for settlement within 60 days. Ignoring that will lead to void applications.

“For now we’ve learned from the patent office that they won’t issue official letters or send notifications to patent agents requesting payment immediately. This means practically that there will be no official deadlines to pay these fees, but things might change in the coming days,” Chungath says. “In relation to the announcement of all patent agents required to prepare a list of their clients’ applications to be sent to the patent office, the patent office will recheck the filed applications as per formal examinations, that is, to check if all filing requirements are complete. If these applications are complete, the patent agent will be asked to pay the fees on the technical examination at the above costs for PCT and non-PCT applications. Clear guidelines and time frames are expected later.”