BUSINESS BRIEF: SRI LANKA
“PATENT INFRINGEMENT IS NOT COMMON WITHIN THE COUNTRY. IN THE EVENT OF AN INFRINGEMENT, THERE IS PROVISION UNDER THE ACT TO INSTITUTE PROCEEDINGS.”
and any original intellectual creation in the fields of literary, artistic and scientific domain are protected irrespective of the mode or form of expression as well as its content, quality and purpose. Copyright holders are protected from any infringement of protected rights, both economic and moral.
Infringement of copyright can be dealt with either by way of criminal prosecution or civil prosecution. However it has never been easy to establish copyright in a court of law as copyright protection is subject to certain serious qualifications.
Tere have been no changes in copyright law for the last 12 months. However there are changes expected to protect copyright by way of registration.
Counterfeiting Counterfeiting is a serious issue in Sri Lanka with regards to trademarked goods and pirated CDs. While there are specific provisions under each limb of IP in the act to deal with direct infringement or counterfeiting there is also provision under the Customs Ordinance to seize counterfeit goods.
www.worldipreview.com
Unfair competition Te law relating to unfair competition was first introduced to Sri Lanka under the provision of the Code of IP Act no. 52 of 1979. Part VIII of the current act makes a comprehensive section of provision relation to this area of law.
Any act or practice carried out or engaged in, in the course of industrial or commercial activities that are contrary to honest practices shall constitute an act of unfair competition. Te Section 160 of the Act of Unfair Competition covers mainly acts pertaining to industrial property.
General Tere are ongoing discussions with regard to draſting a special statue for geographic indications and plant varieties.
J.M. Swaminathan is precedent partner of Messrs. Julius & Creasy. He can be contacted at:
jacey@sltnet.lk
Anomi Wanigasekera is the partner in charge of the IP group at Messrs. Julius & Creasy. She can be contacted at:
anomi@juliusandcreasy.lk
World Intellectual Property Review Annual 2013 131
Anomi Wanigasekera, LLM (Wales), attorney-at-law holds diplomas in IP law, international trade law, banking and insurance law. She has extensive experience in contentious and non-contentious IP law matters. She has participated in several international seminars and has been involved in several complex trademark, design and infringement cases over two decades.
J.M. Swaminathan LLB (Ceylon), LLM Phil (Colombo), attorney-at-law, is a member of the Company Law Advisory Commission, a member of the IP Law Advisory Commission and the Council of Legal Education. He is a visiting lecturer and an examiner at of
the faculty law, University of Colombo and a
faculty member of the LLM Wales Course conducted by the Sri Lanka Law College. Swaminathan is a director of several listed and unlisted companies.
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