WIPO Visit Puts Jamaica’s Creative IP Protection Push in Focus

Jamaica used a visit from World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Director General Daren Tang to restate its focus on stronger intellectual property (IP) safeguards and support for the country’s creative industries. Tang visited the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, where the discussions centred on getting more local creators to understand copyright and making IP protection easier to access.

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Olivia Grange, said the engagement carried major weight for Jamaica’s cultural and creative community. “Intellectual property, copyright industries, copyright matters are of extreme importance to creatives, and our diverse culture makes us a prime subject for the recognition and the development of our intellectual property rights,” she told journalists.

Grange said Jamaican creators need clearer knowledge of how IP rights can protect the value of their work. “Here in Jamaica, with our diverse culture, with our music, our musicians, our songwriters, our creatives… it is important that they are targeted and given a full understanding of the importance of intellectual property… it’s their pension,” she said.

She also urged innovators to treat protection of their ideas as a practical route to income. “Innovators, when you come up with ideas, you have to ensure that they’re protected because that is how you will earn an income… monetise your creativity,” Ms. Grange added.

Tang said his trip fits into WIPO’s wider push to take IP awareness beyond specialists and directly to people creating work in countries with strong creative economies, including Jamaica. “So a lot of the work I’ve been trying to do at WIPO is how do we bring the value of intellectual property and copyright to musicians…. not just the experts and the believers in copyright but those on the ground… those who are creating and pursuing their passions,” he said during talks with Minister Grange.