"Intellectual Property Means You Have To Ask"
The spectacular destruction of 1.2 million pirated DVDs and CDs by the Jamaica Anti-Piracy Alliance on Friday, April 15 at the Riverton City Dump in Kingston was the Intellectual Property (IP) Week event to
draw attention to the high level of flouting of IP regulations in Jamaica.
Public Relations practitioners who generate ideas and who use the creative work of others have a special calling to be at the forefront of the protection of our own IP and that of others.
One area for urgent attention is the staging of events that use recorded music, but for which no promoter provides a playlist to collection agencies. These agencies, such as the Jamaica Association of Composers Authors and Publishers (JACAP), allow the creators of music and their estates to benefit from their labour.
There is no collection agency currently in place in Jamaica for recorded speech - such as speeches, and poems.
PR contractors who create ideas for clients, such as event designs, event concepts and PR plans and programmes should recognise that their work has ongoing value that can also be protected. While the creator can never be separated from his work, the right to commercially exploit the work might belong to the employer of the PR person, or the client, depending on the arrangements.
There are noted photographers in Jamaica who limit the commercial rights of the client to news or press purposes, and retain copyright for other uses such as advertisements in print separate from advertisements in the Internet, until there is an agreed buy out.
In an interview with Ronald Mason of Nationwide News Network on April 26, Mrs Joan Pinkney, Manager Licensing and Membership at Jamaica Copyright Licensing Association (Jamcopy), says that there are two categories of intellectual property: Copyright; and industrial design properties. It is notable that the work of PR persons can fall in one or both categories.
Jamcopy is the sole national licensing body for the reproduction of copyright protected materials published in the print media. It has reciprocal arrangements with 30 countries to manage the rights of registered creators of published work.
The IP organisations in Jamaica who make up the Jamaica Anti-Piracy Alliance are the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO), an agency of the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce; Jamaica Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers; Jamaica Music Society; the Jamaica Constabulary Force; Palace Amusement Company; the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports; and the Business Software Alliance.
Their activities for IP week 2011 that runs from April 23-29 are: a public lecture by Dr Duncan Matthews (Llb), Reader, Intellectual Property Law at the Property Law Centre UK at the UWI, Mona Faculty of Law on April 26; and a workshop for graphic artists in Kingston on April 28.
For more on creative rights, Jamcopy can be reached at: admin.jamcopy@cwjamaica.com.
The office is at 70 Ruthven Road, Kingston. http://www.jamcopy.com/
The spectacular destruction of 1.2 million pirated DVDs and CDs by the Jamaica Anti-Piracy Alliance on Friday, April 15 at the Riverton City Dump in Kingston was the Intellectual Property (IP) Week event to
draw attention to the high level of flouting of IP regulations in Jamaica.
Public Relations practitioners who generate ideas and who use the creative work of others have a special calling to be at the forefront of the protection of our own IP and that of others.
One area for urgent attention is the staging of events that use recorded music, but for which no promoter provides a playlist to collection agencies. These agencies, such as the Jamaica Association of Composers Authors and Publishers (JACAP), allow the creators of music and their estates to benefit from their labour.
There is no collection agency currently in place in Jamaica for recorded speech - such as speeches, and poems.
PR contractors who create ideas for clients, such as event designs, event concepts and PR plans and programmes should recognise that their work has ongoing value that can also be protected. While the creator can never be separated from his work, the right to commercially exploit the work might belong to the employer of the PR person, or the client, depending on the arrangements.
There are noted photographers in Jamaica who limit the commercial rights of the client to news or press purposes, and retain copyright for other uses such as advertisements in print separate from advertisements in the Internet, until there is an agreed buy out.
In an interview with Ronald Mason of Nationwide News Network on April 26, Mrs Joan Pinkney, Manager Licensing and Membership at Jamaica Copyright Licensing Association (Jamcopy), says that there are two categories of intellectual property: Copyright; and industrial design properties. It is notable that the work of PR persons can fall in one or both categories.
Jamcopy is the sole national licensing body for the reproduction of copyright protected materials published in the print media. It has reciprocal arrangements with 30 countries to manage the rights of registered creators of published work.
The IP organisations in Jamaica who make up the Jamaica Anti-Piracy Alliance are the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO), an agency of the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce; Jamaica Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers; Jamaica Music Society; the Jamaica Constabulary Force; Palace Amusement Company; the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports; and the Business Software Alliance.
Their activities for IP week 2011 that runs from April 23-29 are: a public lecture by Dr Duncan Matthews (Llb), Reader, Intellectual Property Law at the Property Law Centre UK at the UWI, Mona Faculty of Law on April 26; and a workshop for graphic artists in Kingston on April 28.
For more on creative rights, Jamcopy can be reached at: admin.jamcopy@cwjamaica.com.
The office is at 70 Ruthven Road, Kingston. http://www.jamcopy.com/
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