Educating exporters is necessary to protect intellectual property

AS JAMPRO looks to boost the country’s export performance, the agency said that with the addition of new international markets for export, it is important for exporters to be knowledgeable about the implications around intellectual property (IP) in entering the market. The challenge lies in equipping business owners with the relevant information to protect their intellectual property.

The workshop sought to address this challenge, and JAMPRO’s vice-president of sales and promotion, Claude Duncan, emphasised this in his opening remarks at the event, “This workshop is timely, given the hypercompetitive global environment in which we operate. Many businesses in the Caribbean do not register their trademarks or other IP, citing lack of awareness of what is necessary, the difficulty of the process and/or the cost associated with the registration.”

Duncan said intellectual property protection is needed to foster innovation, and that the training was critical to build knowledge of IP in the Jamaican business community. JAMPRO continues to seek out more opportunities to educate exporters on leveraging intellectual property laws to protect their products and services locally and abroad.

The full-day workshop focused on intellectual property rights and their role in brand development. The Jamaica Intellectual Property Office also gave an overview of Jamaica’s IP Framework and the use of intellectual property by small and medium enterprises.