The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Attorney General yesterday admitted The Bahamas has been “negligent” in protecting the innovations of its entrepreneurs by failing to keep pace with intellectual property (IP) safeguards.

Ryan Pinder KC, addressing an IP consultation with representatives from the cultural and agri-business industries, said it was “the plain truth” that successive administrations have failed to ensure creative money-making ideas were given the necessary protections to prevent them from being pirated, stolen or copied.

Describing the present system for intellectual property rights protection as “clunky, slow and inefficient”, and with The Bahamas also lacking membership in the necessary international conventions, he pledged to transform processes from ones that are manual-based via the launch of an online electronic portal.

Mr Pinder said a dedicated IP Office will be created as a standalone entity, spun out from its present home in the Registrar General’s Department. Confirming that the Government plans to implement IP legal reforms that will bring The Bahamas into line with international best practice, he added that it also intends to establish a “defined sector policy” for intellectual property.

“The plain truth is that when it comes to providing necessary intellectual protection for our people to protect their creations and business innovations, and the creation of a proper platform for the domestic and international protection of these important assets, The Bahamas has been negligent in keeping up with international standards to provide you with adequate opportunities for economic growth and development,” Mr Pinder conceded.

“Our laws are inadequate, our registration system is clunky, slow and ineffective, and we are not party to the necessary international conventions to ensure international protections to Bahamians who would want protection for their intellectual property.”

Applying for intellectual property rights protection, such as copyrights, patents and trademarks, is presently “not efficient, easy or progressive”. Mr Pinder added: “The process is managed by the intellectual Property division of the Registrar General. The application process is a manual process by submitting the relevant application and must wait for its manual review and approval.

“This is a burdensome process and creates unnecessary delays, which have a material effect on the ability of Bahamians to timely seek protection and to have their intellectual property published for notice of its protection. We look to reform this entire process to make the application procedure easy, straightforward and efficient to ensure timely protection of your IP assets.

“With the passing of our legislative reforms... we will be in a position to operationalise an online intellectual property portal that will facilitate the application and approval of intellectual property protections online. This will allow clear, timely and transparent review and approval of applications. The platform will be supported by WIPO so that your intellectual property is protected worldwide.”

WIPO is the World Intellectual Property Organisation, and Mr Pinder said: “Our government believes intellectual property protections are a foundational element of economic empowerment for Bahamians. As such, we believe that the administration of intellectual property rights requires a focused and dedicated Intellectual Property Office.

“Once we have implemented our reforms, we will look to split the functions of administering intellectual property rights in The Bahamas from where it currently lies, in the Registrar General’s office, and have a stand-alone, dedicated IP Office.

“This is the internationally-recognised best practice and would provide the necessary focus on what our government believes is fundamental to Bahamian economic empowerment, especially in the creative industries and Orange Economy.”

Intellectual property rights protections are required in industries such as music, film, the arts, publishing, creative enterprises such as Junkanoo and even the agri-business sector. “Agriculture has evolved from what it was generations ago. There is now technology and genetic testing and development associated with the agriculture business,” Mr Pinder said.

“This has demanded that intellectual property protections now be a fundamental part of the furtherance of agribusiness throughout the world. There are many ways that companies protect intellectual property in the agricultural industry.

“For example, companies file for utility patents to protect a wide variety of plant-related inventions, such as breeding methods, plant-based chemicals, plant parts and plant products. Plant Variety Protection certificates provide certain exclusive rights to breeders of any new, distinct, uniform, and stable sexually or asexually reproduced or tuber-propagated plant varieties.”

Mr Pinder said the proposed legal reforms “will allow for an efficient and streamlined process for international and domestic protection of IP assets and creations” in areas such as integrated circuits, false trade descriptions and geographical indications.

“These will be comprehensive reforms that will launch The Bahamas into the forefront of intellectual property protections for our citizens, creating the necessary element for economic empowerment in areas of new creations,” the Attorney General added.

“We will not only pass the legislation, we will also join the necessary international conventions to ensure the protection of the above elements of intellectual property internationally. We will be joining the necessary conventions for international protection of intellectual property in a phased approach, so we can implement the conventions effectively. At the end of the process, we look forward to joining up to 11 new IP international conventions.”

The Government plans to launch a public consultation on the reforms in December, much as it did with the medical marijuana changes. “Our government is determined to ensure that Bahamian creatives extract greater value from global orange economy revenues,” Mr Pinder said, adding that the reforms will also provide a mechanism whereby IP assets can be used as collateral for financing.