By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas has signed five international treaties under the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

In a bid to strengthen the country’s intellectual property (IP) framework the government has signed five treaties to ensure the Intellectual Property Office is fully aligned with international standards. The five new treaties include the Budapest Treaty, the Nice Agreement, the Vienna Agreement, the Trademark Law Treaty and the Singapore Treaty.

Camille Gomez-Jones, Registrar General, said the agreements will provide the office with the tools necessary to ensure “quality and efficient service”.

“The treaties signed by the Prime Minister serve as significant tools to arm the Office with the resources necessary to provide the Bahamian public with the quality and efficient service they deserve in preserving their rights and protecting their intellectual property.”

A press release on the signing from the Attorney General’s Office said the treaties will revive the Bahamas Intellectual Property Office (BahIPO) which was “dormant” for more than 50 years and position the office as the “gold standard in the Caribbean” for IP administration.

“These treaties mark a major milestone in the revitalisation of the Bahamas Intellectual Property Office (BahIPO), which had remained dormant in-service delivery for more than 50 years,” said the statement.

“This administration has made the revitalisation of BahIPO a priority, with a clear vision of positioning it as the gold standard in the Caribbean for intellectual property administration and ensuring that the Intellectual Property Office is fully aligned with the subsidiary legislation governing Trademarks, Patents, Copyrights, and Industrial Designs, as executed by the Attorney General.”

The Attorney General’s Office said the country will sign an additional five IP treaties over the coming months.

“BahIPO currently registers Trademarks, Copyrights, Patents, and Industrial Designs and will soon be expanding its capabilities even further,” said the statement.

“In the coming months, The Bahamas is poised to sign five additional international IP treaties. This is an action that will bring the country in line with regional peers and international best practices. This new era of IP reform represents a powerful shift toward a more inclusive, creative, and innovative Bahamian economy”

Speaking at the STEP Conference in March, Attorney General Ryan Pinder KC said a digital intellectual property (IP) registry will be formed once the regulations have been published.

“We’re launching our new intellectual property registry for all those who have IP concerns. That’ll be a separate registry. We put the legislation in force, the regulations probably will be issued next week on the new legislation, and we’ll have a digitised platform,” said Mr Pinder.

He explained there will now be three registrars to deal separately with records, companies and intellectual property. The registrar of records will hold personal information and deeds, such as birth and marriage records, which all also be available digitally through the civil registry operational system (CROS).

“We will now have three registrars, one for records, one for companies, one for intellectual property. With the registrar of records, that’s deeds and documents, births, deaths, marriages. And we have developed a platform called CROS, civil registry operational system, and that will be a digital platform for your deeds and documents for your marriages, records your death, records your birth,” said Mr Pinder.

“We’ve now got a moveable asset collateral registry, so inventory and machinery, whatever you have is a moveable asset, now we have a security interest put on and have a loan.”