America-Israel Patent Law Blog

I belong to several IP-related groups on LinkedIn.  This past week I received notices from two of them about a new portal to put potential users of IP-related legal services in touch with purveyors of those services.  Looking at the site, I saw that at the bottom of the home page is a division of the world into geographical areas, with the notation “Select a Country to Send Inquiries”.  I wanted to see what firms from Israel were listed.  So I scrolled over the “Middle East and North Africa” map, but Israel wasn’t in that list.  Thinking maybe they’d put Israel with Europe, I scrolled over Europe.  Nope, not there either.  How about Asia?  Nada.  Then I looked in the alphabetical list of countries.  Hungary, Iceland, India Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica…notice anything missing? 

Turns out this particular operation is based in Dubai.  Apparently the Arab predilection for ignoring the facts and engaging in wishful thinking extends to the IP sphere.  Newsflash for the guys running the site: Israel exists.  Or was that flap a few months ago about some terrorist getting killed in a hotel in Dubai just a case of you guys getting worked up over what some ghosts did?   

Not only does Israel exist, the PCT database lists 21590 published PCT applications having an Israeli applicant.  That’s over 200 times more than the 104 such applications for the whole UAE.  The disparity may partly explain why Israel weathered the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 so much better than Dubai did. 

Keep up your delusions, Dubai.  It’s a great way to move from doing whatever it is you do with your camels into the 21st century.

By the way, if anyone’s looking for an IP pro in “Palestine” – because we all know that when the PA/Hamas aren’t trying to lob missiles or homicide bombers at Israel, they’re at the vanguard of the granting and enforcement of IP rights – the site includes “Palestine”, but doesn’t list any firms.