BUSINESS BRIEF: BARBADOS


to register and then monitor marks, especially on the Internet, and thinking that the Caribbean is one legal jurisdiction, are also common.


Copyright Protecting against copyright infringement In the absence of a formal registration system for copyrighted materials, local creators are encouraged to date a record of their creation and send it to themselves by registered post, not to be opened except in court as evidence of the date and content of their creation. Where appropriate, creators are also encouraged to join a collective society.


Key challenges for copyright holders Lack of public awareness of the significance and value of intellectual property is probably the biggest challenge to maximising the return on investment for local copyright owners, especially in the cultural industries. Te relatively recent international successes of Barbadian musical superstars (eg, Rihanna and Cover Drive) have brought some focus to bear on the potential value of IP.


Dealing with infringement Rights owners must be prepared to enforce their own private rights, and should not expect the authorities to lead the charge for them. Although there are laws in place to deal with infringement, in a market as small as Barbados, the time/money/cost:benefit ratio militates


www.worldipreview.com


against enforcing relatively small incidents of infringement.


Counterfeiting Little, if any, data exist to permit analysis of the true extent of counterfeiting in Barbados. Anecdotally, the cultural industries (especially music and film) seem most at risk from piracy.


More needs to be done to inculcate a culture of recognition of and respect for IP rights, starting with the youngest citizens and permeating the entire society. Some gains may be possible through education and public outreach programmes.


General Barbados has a robust legislative framework for protecting IP, with the last major changes made in 2006. Barbados would definitely benefit from comprehensive computerisation of the intellectual property office’s records to facilitate searches and processing of applications. Presently, searches are conducted manually, as the accuracy of results from computerised searches cannot be guaranteed. Patent searches are done strictly by the exact title of the pending or registered invention—no fishing allowed!


Rosalind Smith Millar is a partner at Clarke Gittens Farmer. She can be contacted at: rsm@clarkes.com.bb


World Intellectual Property Review Annual 2012 113


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180