– Attorney General endorses recommendations made by Registry of Deeds of Patents and Trademarks

??AS a follow-up to a planning and assessment mission on intellectual property (IP) carried out in February 2014, by Mr. Paul Regis, Head of Caribbean Unit, World Intellectual Property Organization, to the Ministry of Legal Affairs and other IP stakeholders in Guyana, the Honorable Attorney General endorsed the recommendations made by the Registry of Deeds of Patents and Trademarks for an IP action plan for Guyana over the next 2-3 year period which would entail capacity building programmes.

The first of a series of awareness raising programmes geared towards Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises was launched on Monday at the Guyana International Convention Centre.

From July 11 to 12, the Registry of Deeds and Trademarks and Patents, Ministry of Legal Affairs, Government of Guyana, co-organised with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) of Geneva, Switzerland, a Workshop on the Use of Intellectual Property as a Tool for the Growth and Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.

The workshop was opened by Mr. Anil Nandlall, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs. The aim of the meeting was to sensitise the target audience to the importance of IP as a tool for development and to showcase best practices and examples of its use in the business strategy.

In his opening remarks, the Attorney General expressed thanks to WIPO for its collaboration and advocated the appropriateness of the theme of the workshop for examining the concept of IP in today’s economy.
He said societal realities needed to be taken into consideration so as to formulate effective IP policies in line with the country’s development priorities. Minister Nandlall recognised the need for the IP laws of the country to be updated and underscored the importance of the overarching CARICOM regional integration process to be taken into consideration in that context. He further added that amendment to IP laws was not unique to Guyana and proposed that regional solutions be explored in the area of IP.

In closing, Minister Nandlall urged participants to take a regional perspective into considerations in their deliberations during the workshop and expressed hope that there would be numerous recommendations for enhancing the national IP system, coming out of this forum.

Key speakers at the workshop were: Mr. Paul Regis, Head, Caribbean Unit, Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean; Ms. Azeena Baksh, Registrar, Registry of Deeds and Trademarks and Patents; Ms. Wendy Hollingsworth, Science, Technology and Innovation Consultant, Barbados; Mr. David Orozco, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies/MBA Program Director, College of Business, Florida State University and Mr. Teni E. Housty, Attorney at Law, Fraser, Housty & Yearwood, Georgetown.