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DE RUEHKG #0221/01 0441909
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R 131909Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY KINGSTON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4330
INFO RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEHSJ/AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE 1881

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINGSTON 000221 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EB/TPP/MTA/CIP, WHA/EPSC AND WHA/CAR 
 
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USPTO, USTR 
 
SANTO DOMINGO FOR FAS AND FCS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KIPR ECON ETRD USTR JM
SUBJECT: JAMAICA: 2007 SPECIAL 301 REVIEW - EMBASSY INPUT 
 
REF: A. STATE 07944 
 
This message is sensitive but unclassified.  Please handle 
accordingly. 
 
This message responds to reftel request for post input for the 
Special 301 Interagency Review Process.  It also contains an action 
request in paragraph 8. 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary and Recommendation:  Embassy Kingston recommends 
that Jamaica remain on the Special 301 Watch list, due to its 
continuing failure to pass a WTO TRIPS-consistent patent law.  Its 
trademark and copyright regimes meet international standards and 
enforcement efforts over the past year have been commendable. 
Ministry officials and the Acting Executive Director of the Jamaica 
Intellectual Property Office (JIPO) are keen to have the Patents and 
Designs Act passed and Jamaica removed from the Special 301 Watch 
List, but the legislative process has been glacial.  Jamaica also 
faces difficulty in receiving adequate assistance, at times, from 
U.S. rights-holders when it does attempt to prosecute cases, due to 
the small scale of the piracy.  End Summary and Recommendation. 
 
LEGISLATION 
----------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Jamaica is on the Watch List primarily because its 
intellectual property rights laws do not meet WTO TRIPS standards. 
Jamaica has had TRIPS-compliant trademark and copyright acts in 
place since 1999.  In January 2004, the Jamaican Parliament approved 
a bill to protect Geographical Indications, but has yet to pass 
implementing regulations.   Most disturbingly, new patent, plant 
variety, and industrial design laws are no closer to reality today 
than they were at the January 2000 TRIPS implementation deadline. 
GOJ officials repeatedly insist that passage of a new 
TRIPS-compliant patent law is a high priority, but this claim is 
undercut by the fact that it has languished for nearly four years. 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) Embassy Kingston has continued its lobbying efforts over 
the past year.  Emboffs have strong and continuous contact with the 
Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO).  On February 6, 2007, 
emboffs met with representatives of JIPO Lonette Fisher-Lynch and 
Edward Brightly (Note: Brightly was, until recently, the Acting 
Executive Director of JIPO.  Endnote) to discuss legislative 
developments relating to IPR.  Brightly noted that the Samuelson 
Law, Technology, and Public Policy Clinic from the University of 
California at Berkeley had reviewed the latest version of the 
Patents and Designs Act, and had offered extensive recommendations. 
These were being reviewed by the Attorney General, after which the 
act will be sent to cabinet and then parliament for discussion and 
eventual passage into law.  Brightly said that the Attorney 
General's office had completed its review, but admitted that it was 
highly unlikely that the Act would be tabled in Parliament before 
late 2007. 
 
BROADCAST 
--------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) In the past, the U.S. television/cable industry has 
criticized Jamaica's broadcast of copyrighted material without 
permission.  However, anecdotal evidence from cable operators in 
Jamaica indicates that attempts to secure licensing agreements with 
U.S. firms have met with a lack of interest, as a result of the 
inadequate size of the market.  That being said, Richard Pardy, CEO 
of Flow, Inc., a provider of data services, voice 
telecommunications, and subscription video, told Econoff that at the 
Caribbean Cable Show in St. Kitts in early February, HBO announced 
its intention to launch a Caribbean package.  In general, Jamaica's 
Broadcast Commission takes seriously its responsibility to ensure 
that local cable television license holders have obtained permission 
from content providers to broadcast copyrighted material. 
 
ENFORCEMENT 
----------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The GOJ had several enforcement successes in 2006, with the 
police seizing illegal goods from a number of storeowners, street 
vendors, and distributors.  In one notable case, in August 2006, 
officers from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) raided a Kingston 
 
KINGSTON 00000221  002 OF 002 
 
 
warehouse and confiscated over 35,000 illegal CDs, DVDs, an audio 
cassettes with in excess of JMD 1 million (approximately USD 
15,000).  Brightly noted that prosecutions had been successful over 
the year, but Fisher-Lynch observed that judges still required 
greater awareness of the need to apply penalties that created a 
significant disincentive to returning to the trade in pirated goods. 
 Fisher-Lynch noted, for example, that the law allowed for a fine of 
JMD 100,000 (approximately USD 1,500) per count (i.e. - a pirated CD 
with 15 songs could warrant a JMD 1.5 million (USD 22,000) fine). 
Judges, however, seemed reluctant to levy such penalties against the 
street-level peddlers in pirated goods. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Both Brightly and Fisher-Lynch commented that in some cases 
prosecutions were hampered by either (A) Jamaican rights-holders 
being unaware of the value of seeing cases through, or (B) foreign 
rights-holders being unwilling to invest time and effort in 
assisting in the prosecution of offenders, due largely to the low 
impact that street peddlers economically on large entities.  They 
cited a case in which they sought the assistance of the Motion 
Picture Association of America (MPAA), needing an affidavit in order 
to see the prosecution through.  They maintained that they never 
heard back, and had to drop the case.  Econoff encouraged JIPO to 
seek the assistance of the Embassy where appropriate. 
 
¶7. (U) The GOJ has been very keen to take advantage of training 
courses offered by the USG, in particular the enforcement academies 
offered by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). 
In 2006, four Jamaican individuals attended training in Alexandria, 
Virginia, and Post continues to seek nominations of qualified 
individuals for such courses.  As always, a lack of resources means 
that the GOJ is unable to send personnel for training at its own 
expense. 
 
¶8. (U) Action Request: Brightly and Fisher-Lynch noted that JIPO was 
looking closely at the collateralization of intellectual property 
assets.  They requested USG assistance in identifying speakers with 
the requisite skills and knowledge to present at a seminar, 
tentatively suggested for May 2007 (after Jamaica finishes hosting 
Cricket World Cup matches in March and April).  They expressed 
particular interest in up to three speakers in the following areas: 
 
¶A. The value of intellectual property. 
¶B. Why undertake valuation of IP assets? 
¶C. How is IP valuation done? 
¶D. The importance of proper valuation of intellectual property for 
obtaining financing. 
¶E. Collateralization of IP assets. 
¶F. Using IP assets to finance your business. 
 
Post requests that EB/IPE assist in identifying USG and/or private 
sector individuals with expertise in this area.  Post point of 
contact is Economic Officer John Morgan (morganjs@state.gov) and 
please cc Elvis James (jamesem@state.gov). 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Post believes that continuing presence on the Special 301 
Watch List is required to encourage Jamaica to pass the Patents and 
Design Act.  Nevertheless, Post believes that the GOJ makes a 
sincere effort to comply with its IPR obligations in other areas. 
Considering the enormous financial limitations under which the GOJ 
operates, and given the vast resources that must be diverted to 
security, it is commendable that the GOJ makes the efforts that it 
does.  Given that these constraints are not limited to Jamaica, a 
regional training in the Caribbean by USPTO may allow the smaller 
economies to find funds to travel to each other.  At the same time, 
it would leverage the assets of USPTO: rather than funding various 
(and relatively few) participants to travel to Washington, a 
regional seminar in Kingston, for example, would allow for more 
people to attend, and would contribute to efforts to raise the 
profile of the issue in the Caribbean. 
 
JOHNSON