Last Updated on August 23, 2021, 8:31 AM AST by Anthony Morris
Basseterre: Officials in the Intellectual Property Office of St. Kitts and Nevis (IPOSKN) outlined and explained four basic types of IP rights and protections, including trademarks, copyrights, patents and trade secrets, all of which are important for establishing legitimate ownership and preventing the illegal use of human rights property.
“If you start thinking about the algorithms and the circuit boards and programs, the physical component of it, provided it is new – and new means do not exist anywhere else in the world – is patentable. So when we start talking about new things and it adds a new element to solving a problem, we start talking about patents,” said Jihan Williams, registrar of the Intellectual Property Office St Kitts and Nevis (IPOSKN) on issues of ‘Working for You’.
Williams touched on trademark protection that refers to phrases, words, or symbols that distinguish the source of a product or services from one party to another.
“We start talking about brands when we think about things that differentiate goods and services. So if I put two bottles of water in front of me without a label, you would not know which one is Dasani and which is Island purified, unless you have a visual sign of which one is Dasani and Island Purified,” Williams said.
Another important type of IP law is copyright and it is used to protect expressions of ideas and creations such as art and writing.
“We’re talking about copyright for original pieces of literary, dramatic, artistic and musical works, also with broadcasting, cable programming and published editions of works. So if you are talking about the original pieces, copyright comes into play,” she said. “Dramatic refers to films, theater productions and music. Literary works are related to works that are meant to be spoken or sung, and artistic are the visual works – the photography, paintings and sculptures. They would be protected under copyright if they were original.”
Assistant Registrar at IPOSKN, Nicola St. Catherine, talked about trade secrets that refer to specific, private information that is important to a business because it gives the business a competitive advantage in its market.
“The exploitation of your intellectual property is where you can get your bread and butter. And trade secrets, you can not protect what you did not disclose, because that is what I want to protect,” Catherine said. Trade secrets are such that you are the best way to protect your intellectual property by keeping it to yourself. The day you appeared in public, you lost all benefits. You may still have a right, but it will be difficult to prove it.
She noted that trademarks, patents and industrial designs require a description and that individuals should elaborate on what their properties are so that officials can know what they are protecting and help accordingly. However, as far as trade secrets are concerned, this is a different story as it cannot help due to nature.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
