The West Bank is better known as the West Bank of Jordan, a portion of the Palestinian territories (also comprising the Gaza Strip) on the eastern border on which runs River Jordan and lies the Dead Sea. The Israeli territories engulf the West Bank and form its borders to the north, west and south. Control over the West Bank was transferred to the Jordanians (East Bank of River Jordan) after the first Arab-Israeli War in 1948 and was occupied by Israel during the 1967 War. The Palestinians regained control of the town of Jericho in 1994 under the Oslo Accord and are also regaining control over major cities and towns of the West Bank under Phase II of the Oslo Accord thus preparing for the third and final implementation stage.

Remarks on Intellectual Property Rights:

The Gaza Strip and the West Bank are new territories which are the result of the overall peace process in a very important part of the world, the Middle East. These territories are presently passing through a transitional period. Securing intellectual property rights through registration with both Registries (now open in the city of Gaza in the Gaza Strip and the city of Ramallah in the West Bank) is an important defensive step of one’s intellectual property as both areas have separate jurisdictions with regard to Industrial Property matters. The prospects that these territories will have a single intellectual property system in the near future exist.