Book on Intellectual Property Laws Launched

Jamaica’s laws on Intellectual Property have, for the first time, been compiled into one book, ‘Jamaica: Intellectual Property’, by Attorney-at- Law and Founding Partner of the law firm, Foga Daley, Dianne Daley.
The book was published by Kluwer Law International, as part of its loose leaf publication of the International Encyclopaedia of Laws in Supplement 47 (September 2008). The International Encyclopaedia of Laws provides information to legal practitioners, corporate counsel, and business executives on varying areas of international legal practice.
At the launch of the publication, on April 23, at Jamaica Trade and Invest on Trafalgar Road, Kingston, Miss Daley said she decided to take on the project after being approached by representatives of the prestigious Encyclopaedia of Laws in 2003.
The book is written in the form of a monograph and is divided into seven chapters, covering all local laws related to intellectual property – Patents, Geographical Indications and Trade Names, Copyright and Neighbouring Rights, Trademarks, Trade Secrets, Layout Designs and Industrial Designs.
Ms. Daley informed that each chapter outlines the current laws and relevant treaties, “what is protected under the law, what is not protected under the law, what conditions must be met in order to obtain protection, what you must do to obtain protection, what rights you gain by protection, and how long your rights last.”
The book also outlines what actions are criminalised under the law and the remedies that can be obtained if one’s rights are infringed. The book also refers to cases relevant to the particular laws being discussed.
The launch of the book is thought to be an important step towards modernising Jamaica’s intellectual property laws and protecting the unique intellectual property that defines the Jamaican brand. The launch also coincided with World Book and Copyright Day, which falls in Intellectual Property Week.
Executive Director of the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO), Carol Simpson, praised Ms. Daley for her work in championing intellectual property rights in Jamaica, noting that the book was a “significant contribution to Jamaica’s intellectual property system.”
Guest speaker at the launch, Chancellor of the Mico University College, Professor Errol Miller, said it was important that Jamaicans and persons in the wider Caribbean learn about their rights as creators. “When you begin to look at it, we have not benefitted, to a great extent, from all the products of the intellect of this region,” he lamented.
Professor Miller said that the publication was a call for stakeholders to organise, as it is only through building a strong creative industry that the country will get the “maximum benefit of what we produce.”