VZCZCXRO9731
RR RUEHGR
DE RUEHPO #0195 1301429
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091429Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY PARAMARIBO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0166
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RUEHAO/AMCONSUL CURACAO 1260
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 0100
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC

UNCLAS PARAMARIBO 000195 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CAR - JACKIE ROSHOLT 
DEPT FOR EEB/IPP - RACHEL WALLACE 
SAO PAOLO - DORIAN MAZURKEVICH 
COMMERCE - PASS TO USPTO FOR BARBARA MCCAFFREY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD SCUL TBIO NS
SUBJECT:  SURINAME:  POST HONORS WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DAY 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  During a lunch in honor of World Intellectual 
Property Day, guests from the Government of Suriname's (GOS) newly 
convened Working Committee on Intellectual Property Rights explained 
that they have a six-month mandate to compare Suriname's legislation 
to TRIPS requirements and make recommendations on which areas of 
current GOS legislation are adequate and which need to be improved. 
Working groups will then be instituted to develop new legislation to 
protect intellectual property.  The creation of this committee is a 
new GOS effort to address Suriname's international commitments to 
protect intellectual property.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) On April 25, the Ambassador hosted a lunch in honor of World 
Intellectual Property Day, which targeted guests from the Government 
of Suriname's (GOS) newly convened Working Committee on Intellectual 
Property Rights. The fifteen-member committee is intra-agency and 
includes members of the private sector.  The Permanent Secretary of 
Justice and Police, Mr. Sharma Lakhisaran, is the official head of 
the committee, and a Bureau of Intellectual Property Rights staffer 
serves as Secretary to the committee. 
 
¶3. (U) Lunch guests, representing police, customs, business, and 
academia told us they had a six-month mandate to review the WTO 
TRIPS agreements in order to make recommendations to the GOS on 
which areas require new legislation.  Thereafter, working groups 
would be created to draft legislation on the focus areas.  The 
guests did not know of whom the working groups would be composed, or 
whether oversight of the working groups would be done by the 
committee or by the Bureau of Intellectual Property Rights. 
 
¶4. (U) Participants said although the committee's mandate was from 
January through June 2008, members were only designated in late 
February.  The committee has met twice monthly since then.  A number 
of committee members had no prior expertise on intellectual property 
issues.  Due to these challenges, all agreed it would be difficult 
to meet the June 2008 deadline for recommendations.  Some 
participants suggested the committee could request an extension to 
its mandate, while others expressed concern that the longer Suriname 
goes without intellectual property legislation, the more entrenched 
those who violate intellectual property will be in the marketplace. 
 
 
¶5. (U) One participant asked if Suriname could expect U.S. 
government assistance on addressing intellectual property issues. 
She suggested once the new legislation is drafted, the United States 
government offer Suriname a "train the trainer" course on 
intellectual property protection and enforcement.  The Economic 
Officer explained existing opportunities to participate in the 
Global Intellectual Property Academy (GIPA) in the United States, 
and participants requested Post provide their committee with course 
information as it becomes available. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment.  Suriname has a poor record on the protection of 
intellectual property, and counterfeit goods are plentiful in the 
marketplace.  Last fall, the Foundation for Copyright Protection in 
Suriname (SASUR), Suriname's copyrights watchdog, had its activities 
suspended by the government after numerous complaints about the 
organization's lack of transparency, and after anecdotes that it 
even tried to collect fees from artists performing their own music. 
The creation of the current committee is the new GOS effort to 
address Suriname's international commitments to protect intellectual 
property.  End Comment. 
GENTON