JIPO Marks Intellectual Property Rights Week

The Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO) will be staging a number of activities to mark Intellectual Property Rights Week, from April 23 to April 30.
Speaking with JIS News at a session on intellectual property, on Friday (April 23), at the JAMBIC/Morris Entrepreneurial Centre in Mandeville, Manchester, Manager for the Copyrights and Related Rights Directorate at JIPO, Ms. Phillipa Davies, noted that: “Every year we celebrate an Intellectual Property Rights Week which is intended to raise public awareness of intellectual property rights, the value of creativity and the importance of respecting creativity.”
She pointed out that as part of this year’s observance, JIPO will be partnering with the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) to offer its services to persons living outside of the Corporate Area.
“This year we have decided to begin offering services outside of Kingston…creativity is not limited to the boundaries of Kingston and so we want to be able to reach potential clients outside of Kingston,” Miss Davies explained.
JIPO will be utilising the JBDC’s satellite offices around the island on scheduled days, to meet with the creative community in the various parishes. “So JBDC would contact their client lists (and) also send out flyers, and use the various avenues to inform the business community that JIPO will be coming on certain days so that persons can come to learn about intellectual property,” she outlined.
Miss Davies indicated that along with the sessions in rural Jamaica, there are also several other activities planned throughout the seven-day celebrations.
“Other activities that we will be having is a church service this Sunday (April 25), (and) we will be having a booth at the Liguanea Fine Arts and Photography Festival in Liguanea, which brings together the visual artists and photographers who are marketing their work. It’s a creative event to also inform the general public as well as the creative community as to their rights,” she informed.
Tomorrow (April 26) World Intellectual Property Day will be celebrated around the globe, and JIPO will be doing a number of radio interviews to reach the wider public with information on intellectual property.
On Wednesday (April 28) the Jamaica Copyright Licensing Agency, (JAMCOPY) will be having a special seminar for copy shops in Kingston, which will also see participation from JIPO.
Then on April 29 and 30, JIPO will mount a booth at the finals of the Jamaica Public Service/Scientific Research Council, Science and Innovations Competition at the National Arena. Also on Friday the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts will be having a special seminar for dance choreographers to inform them about protecting their choreography.
“The seminar is called ‘Choreography is Copyrightable’ and we will also be presenting there as well. So it’s quite a bit of activities in a media through seminars and workshops. The whole point again is getting the public aware about intellectual property rights,” she said.
Intellectual Property speaks to the legal rights, which results from intellectual activity in the scientific, industrial, literary, artistic, musical, and dramatic field.
Intellectual Property is divided into two main categories: Copyright and Related Rights.
The two main rights under Copyright that are: economic rights and moral rights. Copyright requires no formal registration as the general rule is that it is not necessary to register in order to obtain Copyright protection, since as long as a protected work is fixed in a tangible form or material form, it immediately attracts Copyright protection.
Performances of performing artists, phonograms and broadcasts are referred to as Related Rights. These cover actors and musicians in their performances, producers of sound recordings/phonograms and broadcasting organisations in their broadcasts.
Meanwhile, Industrial Property Rights cover areas such as Trademarks, Patents and Industrial Designs, all of which require formal registration to ensure protection.
Jamaica is an active member along with over 158 other countries worldwide of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literacy and Artistic Works. JIPO is the Agency of the Government of Jamaica, which registers trademarks, patents and industrial designs.