Jamaica In Final Stages Of Preparing Accession Documents To Madrid Protocol

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Audley Shaw, says that the Ministry is in the final stages of preparing the documents of accession, which will allow local trademark owners to safeguard their marks internationally, using the Madrid Protocol.

Accession to the global treaty, administered by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) enables trademark owners to protect their goods and services anywhere in the world by registering their trademarks in any of the jurisdictions that are party to the protocol.

The Jamaican Trademarks Act was amended this year to incorporate the provisions under the Madrid Protocol.

Minister Shaw, addressing a virtual webinar on Thursday (September 30), said that the protocol will enable Jamaican companies to “benefit from less expensive access to [the] protection of their marks, in countries that are parties to the Madrid system”.

With greater and cheaper access to trademark protection, local companies will become more competitive on the world market, particularly in countries where ordinarily, they would be unable to obtain trademark protection because of prohibitive costs.

Importantly, Jamaica’s major trading partners have become members of the Madrid Union.

“This will enable the companies to preserve the reputation of their goods by preventing the registration of deceptive marks linked to goods of inferior quality, thus, hopefully, reversing the capture of Jamaican intellectual property by those overseas who recognise the tremendous international appeal of Jamaican goods and services,” the Minister noted.

Meanwhile, Minister Shaw said that the Government is committed to modernising the legislative framework for intellectual property protection as part of efforts to improve the business and commercial environments.

“An appropriate and effective intellectual property legislative framework is especially important for the development of the creative industries and the facilitation of trade in goods and services, which are critical pillars of the economic growth agenda,” he noted.

The webinar on the Madrid Protocol was hosted by WIPO in collaboration with the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO).

Source: JIS