by Linda Straker
Grenada is to undertake an Intellectual Property Audit, as the first step to developing an Intellectual Policy for the economic and sustainable development of the country.
The Ministry of Legal Affairs through the Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Office (CAIPO), in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), will conduct an Intellectual property (IP) Audit in order to identify and assess the IP areas of various stakeholders.
“The purpose of the audit is for evaluating strengths/weaknesses and identifying possible improvement which will form the basis and framework for the development of a national IP strategy,” said the letter of invitation to persons and organisations who will be meeting with the consultant Dr Wendy Hollingsworth — a representative from the WIPO. This Audit will be held during the period 2–4 December 2014.
Intellectual property has been transformed from a sleepy area of law and business, to one of the driving engines of a high-technology economy. In general, an intellectual property policy aims to achieve a number of things which includes: creation of an environment that encourages and expedites the dissemination of discoveries, creations, and new knowledge generated by researchers, for the greatest public benefit and protection of the traditional rights of scholars to control the products of their scholarly work.
It will also be ensuring that the commercial results, financial or other, are distributed in a fair and equitable manner that recognizes the contributions of the inventors and the institution as well those of any other stakeholders; ensuring that both intellectual property and other products of research are made available to the public through an efficient and timely process of technology transfer; promotion, preservation, encouragement of and assistance to scientific investigation and research and ensuring that institutions are aware of the different IP systems in place.
Grenada has signed a number of international conventions which promotes global Intellectual Property protection. These include the Berne Convention, the Paris Convention for the protection of Industrial Property; the Convention on Biodiversity; the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Tangible and Intangible Properties, and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.
