IP week to be celebrated April 23-30

KINGSTON — This year's commemoration of Intellectual Property (IP) Week will feature a workshop for visual artists, staged by the copyright licencing agency, JAMCOPY, at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel, New Kingston, on Thursday April 28.

Chair of the National Advocacy Committee, Graphic Artists Guild, in the United States, Lisa Shaftel, will be the main presenter. She will speak on matters such as the basics of copyright, infringement, licencing, contracts and revenue opportunities. The workshop will run from 8.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.

To participate, members of JAMCOPY will be charged $3,000 plus GCT, while non-members will pay $3,500 plus GCT.

Speaking with JIS News Thursday April 21, Manager of Licencing and Membership at JAMCOPY, Joan Pinkney, said that focus is being placed on visual artists, including graphic artists, photographers, fine artists and illustrators, to assist them in better protecting their work against infringement.

“We are focusing on visual artists because…we want to help them to understand how to protect themselves, protect their work, to secure earnings for themselves, not just in the local market but internationally, as well,” she told JIS News.

She said this is critical as often, visual artists, in their eagerness to get their work published, may overlook the fact that persons will use their work and, because it is not copyrighted, are unable to claim it as their own, costing them possible income.

Mrs. Pinkney said it is also hoped that, through this seminar, visual artists will have greater awareness of licencing and contract opportunities existing for their benefit.

“We also want them to be aware of the markets that are available, so that they can take advantage of it, whether internationally or locally and also online,” she said.

Intellectual Property Week is being observed April 23 to 30. IP speaks to the legal rights which results from intellectual creativity in the scientific, industrial, literary, artistic, musical and dramatic field.

Also in recognition of the Week, the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO), an agency of the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, which provides a focal point for the administration of IP in Jamaica, havebeen engaging in a number of activities, including conducting seminars and a burning exercise, which entailed destroying illegal CDs and books.

Intellectual Property Week incorporates World Book and Copyright Day, observed on April 23, and World Intellectual Property Day, observed on April 26.

World Book and Copyright Day isa yearly event organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)to promote reading, publishing and copyright. World Intellectual Property Day, also an annual event, was established by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to raise awareness of how patents, copyright, trademarks and designs impact on daily life and to celebrate creativity, and the contribution made by creators and innovators to the development of society.

JAMCOPY is a collective management organisation and Jamaica’s national Reproduction Rights Organisation (RRO). It was set up by creators and publishers of materials published in printed form, to manage their reproduction rights.

Through its licences, JAMCOPY provides a centralised, easy and affordable mechanism, through which users have access to, and can legally reproduce extracts of, copyright material published in print – books, periodicals and journals. The proceeds from the licence are distributed to copyright holders after deduction of administration costs.

By ALECIA SMITH, JIS Reporter