TRINIDAD LAUNCHES ANTI-PIRACY IPR CAMPAIGN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT OF SPAIN 000261

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD KIPR TD
SUBJECT: TRINIDAD LAUNCHES ANTI-PIRACY IPR CAMPAIGN

REF: (A) POS 181; (B) POS 198; (C) 05 STATE 222283


1. SUMMARY: The T&T government has launched an anti-
piracy campaign. It will involve outreach to schools
and media advertisements to the public. The launch
during Carnival focuses attention on vending of pirated
works and the damage it does to T&T recording artists
whose creative work culminates in a number of musical
competitions at this time. End summary.


2. With the assistance of local recording artists, the
Intellectual Property (IP) Office of the T&T Legal
Affairs Ministry launched an anti-piracy IPR campaign
on February 17. It takes place in the run-up to
Carnival, which is high season for music and DVD
pirates because of the influx of tourists to Trinidad.
Carnival also marks the high point of the musical
season with competitions taking place in many different
genres, most notably calypso and the more popular soul
calypso or "soca," as well as steel bands.


3. Legal Affairs Minster Christine Kangaloo and Culture
Minister Joan Yuille-Williams both spoke at the event,
which included a performance by a local hip-hop
quartet. Invited guests included the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) regional
coordinator, the EU mission charge, and Embassy Econ
Chief. The deputy police commissioner was another
notable attendee.


4. Kangaloo told the media during the launch that the
GOTT battle against piracy began in 2004 with
amendments proposed to the Copyright Act of 1997.
Since they have not been passed, Kangaloo said they
were being reintroduced on February 17. If passed, the
amendments would give the police, Customs and the
public prosecutor additional weapons to enforce the
Copyright Act. She noted that legislation alone would
not win the piracy battle, saying it depended also on
the "hearts and minds" of the people. Kangaloo said
there was a general lack of respect for IP ownership,
including trademark infringement; counterfeit apparel
and pharmaceuticals; and illegal copying. She said
infringements retarded that nation's economic growth,
and underscored that the T&T music industry was
particularly sensitive to piracy because of its small
size and the size of the local market. Kangaloo added
that no euphemism about unauthorized music copying
could change the fact that piracy was "brutish and
violent."


5. At the top of the GOTT list of priorities, according
to Kangaloo, was challenging patents that asserted
ownership of the steelpan. She said the ministry
planned to engage a U.S. legal firm to advise it on
possibly challenging patents granted by the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office concerning the steelpan (NOTE: In
August and with the help of USPTO, Post provided the
ministry with an online database of U.S. patent
attorneys. On February 23, Kangaloo reportedly stated
following a Cabinet meeting that the GOTT had selected
a Washington-based firm that would request that USPTO
initiate a reexamination of steelpan patents previously
granted to non-Trinidadians.)


6. Culture Minister Williams spoke in support of the
legislation, saying that better enforcement of
copyrights would promote investment in developing
artistic creations. She expressed hope that the anti-
piracy campaign would sensitize and educate the public
that piracy was illegal, and that both pirates and
purchasers of such materials had to be made ware of the
risks of their actions.


7. An advertising agency executive unveiled several
radio spots and a TV ad. Ministry officials said they
had purchased the ads to run throughout the year, not
just during the Carnival season.


8. In the reception following the speeches, Kangaloo
informed Econ Chief that the Cable Piracy Committee
report recommendations (ref A),which she had submitted
to Cabinet earlier in the month, were being reviewed by
four ministers in Cabinet. She gave no time frame for
completion of that review, but post will raise it again
with the ministry following the Carnival break.


9. COMMENT: The ministry faces a challenge in educating
the public that IPR infringement is equally bad
concerning both foreign works as well as local ones.
Some vendors of pirated works rounded up recently (ref
B) reportedly complained that they were doing no wrong

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because they were not selling local recordings. Post
is arranging to provide the IP office with a copy of
the IIP poster set, "Intellectual Property and You"
(ref C),for its outreach activity. We will continue
to assist as appropriate to seek to ensure that the
ministry continues to pay as much attention to U.S.
works as to those originating in T&T.

AUSTIN