BRUCE LEHMAN, president of the International Intellectual Property Institute, has suggested that the Jamaican economy could expand by 10 per cent if the country was able to capture all the earnings from Jamaican music on the world market.
The international earnings of local music, he said, had been valued at US$1.2 billion by the United Nations Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Mr. Lehman was delivering the keynote address at the opening ceremony for Intellectual Property Week at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston on Monday.
Citing UNCTAD statistics, which indicate that US$1.3 million of Jamaica's music earnings abroad returned to the island, he called for the establishment of business institutions to serve local music creators. He said money was available for this purpose from developed countries under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement. Arguing that policy decisions on information technology had contributed to the phenomenal growth of the American economy, the former United States Assistant Secretary of Commerce pointed to the country and western music capital of Nashville, Tennessee, as a model for the development of Jamaica's music industry.
He described Jamaica's established legal system and democratic tradition as "extremely important assets", which have placed the country on the threshold of a "flowering of intellectual property-based industries".
Phillip Paulwell, Minister of Industry, Commerce, Science and Technology, in his address announced the establishment of the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO).
He said the Government would restructure and modernise the national intellectual property system to support the growth of knowledge-based and cultural industries. The new department would strengthen, consolidate and centralise the Government's administration of intellectual property laws, which have been scattered among several agencies and ministries manned by personnel without specialised training.
Noting that circuitous route involved in administering local patents, Minister Paulwell said the JIPO was designed to provide a "unified approach" to the administration of patents.
In addition, he said, the Government was "seeking to revise and enact modern legislation to protect our indigenous material through modern and comprehensive patent and industrial designs laws, geographical indications, new plant varieties and laws which guard against unfair competition".
Claudette Chin, Vice President for Marketing at JAMPRO, pointed out that surveys showed that the "primary criteria" for foreign investors was the enforcement of international rules and regulations in individual countries.
Other speakers at the function included, Dr. Rae Davis, President of the University of Technology and Alejandro Roca Campana, Deputy Director of the World Intellectual Property Organisation in Latin America and the Caribbean.