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| Friday, 23 May 2003 |
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New Bill to protect Intellectual Property soon The recently gazetted Intellectual Property Bill, is scheduled to get an early debate in Parliament next week, as it is aimed to provide the legal background for Sri Lanka to join the emerging knowledge based global economy. The Bill intended to repeal the Code of Intellectual Property Act. No 52 of 1979 has become a pressing need for attracting new investments in several new industries, including the IT industry. Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake said that the Bill is intended to give new value for information by providing protection for a wider range of intellectual property assets including trade secrets, information technology and industrial designed such as integrated circuits. He said that information would become a valuable asset, only under an environment which provide protection for it and emphasised the necessity of such measures for Sri Lanka to secure its position in the emerging knowledge based world economy. Director of the National Intellectual Property office, Dr. D. M. Karunanatne said that the Bill would also give maximum protection for Intellectual Property rights of a person as his lifetime plus 70 years, which is well above the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) recommendations of lifetime plus 50 years. He said that the Bill contains some special provisions to cover computer software and databases, which are aimed to give adequate piracy protection for the country's emerging IT industry. The Bill also has special provisions for relief measures to artistes, performers and writers, who have become frequent victims of intellectual property piracy. Dr. Karunaratne said that singers, actors and performers who have not received any rights under the incumbent Act will be given certain rights pertaining to the songs and performance in future and a special settlement mechanism will also be set up to solve IP disputes among artistes amicably. With reference to trade, the new Bill contains provisions to prevent and fight unfair trade competition. Dr. Karunaratne said that any act contrary to honest practices in commerce and industry has been referred in it as unfair trade practices, which includes prohibiting offensive advertising that might damage competitor products or brands. Geographical location identifications such as Ceylon Tea and Ruhunu Curd will also be given a special protection under the Bill, which would ban using such identification marks on substandard products, Dr. Karunaratne said. |
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