Crown Counsel attends top US seminar

A US-sponsored training programme has increased the depth of intellectual property expertise on the island, leading a recent participant to suggest more needs to be done to make Bermudians better aware of copyright laws and regulations.Crown Counsel Leighton Rochester (pictured right) attended a week-long session at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in Alexandria, Virginia last month, courtesy of US Consul General Gregory Slayton and the USPTO. The third member of the Bermuda Attorney General’s chambers to benefit from the programme, he returned to the island “enthusiastic about the contacts he made, the information he learned and its relevance to Bermuda”.

The term intellectual property is a broad reference to works created using the mind or the intellect, and covers everything from traditional inventions to business symbols to manuscripts and even sounds. The USPTO programme was praised by Mr. Slayton, who argued “the protection of international property rights is the hallmark of a successful, civilised society”.

“It’s important to protect intellectual property rights to ensure a country’s health and safety, to protect against organised crime and for the continued economic and cultural development,” Mr. Rochester stated. “Especially when it comes to artists, whether they’re creating films, taking pictures or composing a song, they’re all crucial to a country’s cultural development. If a country doesn’t protect them, it can’t protect its culture.”

The United States loses billions of dollars to piracy and counterfeiting annually. An obvious concern to the multitudes of affected and vulnerable companies there, the issue is not so evident in Bermuda where many are ignorant of copyright laws and regulations, the lawyer added.

As examples he cited a past case involving a local company which had used a popular song by the American artist Lionel Richie, as part of a promotion and an international incident which had far greater repercussions.

“(His representatives) called the relevant station and said it had to be pulled off or it risked being sued. In Bermuda, we’re very relaxed, we don’t do that but it is important for the protection and encouragement of intellectual development and creativity.

“Lionel Belasco was a Trinidadian composer who wrote the music for Rum and Coco-Cola, a calypso song popularised by the Andrews Sisters. Lionel Belasco won recognition for and received compensation for its unauthorised use only because the US has laws and enforces them. If Lionel Belasco had sued in a country with no intellectual property rights or very weak laws, his (lawsuit) would not have had a happy ending.”

Former Solicitor General Wilhelm Bourne and Acting Solicitor General Melvin Douglas preceded Mr. Rochester as programme participants.

A fourth Government employee, principle customs officer Tanya Quinn, is to leave this weekend for “a related USPTO seminar on recent trends in border enforcement of intellectual property rights”.

The Crown Counsel plugged it as a worthwhile experience for several reasons.

“There were 40 of us from 21 countries,” he said, listing such nations as Kazakhstan, Moldova, Brunei, Bulgaria, Vietnam, Armenia and Cambodia.”As a Baha’i, I went to the convention and met people from all these (far off) places I had heard of.

“There were customs officers, police officers, prosecutors and judges — all had something to do with the enforcement of intellectual property rights.”

China is the biggest culprit when it comes to the production of fake merchandise — reaping billions of dollars in business lost to the United States, he added.

“The course made me more aware of copyrights and patents. It made me more aware of the importance of trademarks and of the crucial importance and effect of intellectual property rights.

“As a lawyer, it made me more aware, when writing contracts for Government, that copyright clauses need to be included in the contract.”

Ultimately, the only means of combating the problem would be to give “a number to every person, every thing” in the world, he said, insisting that day wasn’t too far off.

Courtesy of Royal Gazette reporter Heather Wood