Police OIC's receive training in intellectual property rights from
AmCham
On an IPR enforcer education initiative by the American Chamber of
Commerce in Sri Lanka (AmCham),OIC's of 43 Special Crimes Investigations
Bureaus island wide gathered at the National Police Academy for a five
day residential diploma course on Intellectual Property Rights.
 This program, designed by Dr. D. M. Karunaratne, former Director
General of the National Intellectual property Office and other legal
professionals was aimed at familiarizing various law enforcement
officers on the existing Law on IPR and its implementation.
Further to discussions that AmCham President and the IPR Committee
had with the Inspector General of Police it was agreed to continue this
Diploma Course in the future for other specific officers of the Police
Department. The course was held from December 3 to 7 and AmCham
President Vijaya Ratnayake, and Attorney-at-Law Sudath Perera from the
AmCham IPR Committee was present at the inauguration and certificate
presentation ceremony. Retired DIG and Attorney-at-Law Wijaya
Amarasekera was the Course Coordinator and was joined by other members
of the legal profession.
IPR compliance is an important factor for any developing country
intending to attract Foreign Direct Investment and develop external
trade.
A considerable majority of AmChammembers fall into the IT, Apparel,
Banking and Finance, Hotel & Tourism categories.
Having recognized the importance of IPR compliance for sustaining and
developing businesses as far back as 2007, AmCham has been actively
involved in IPR activities which included the award winning "Get Real"
public awareness campaign, introduction to IPR law courses for Judicial
Officers, Customs and Police Officers and Pharmacists in Colombo and the
provinces, assistingin the setting up of the Anti-Piracy and Counterfeit
Unit at the CID together with Business Software Alliance (BSA) etc.
In September this year AmCham released a booklet entitled, "Guide to
Intellectual Property Law in Sri Lanka" for distribution free of charge
to its members and other organizations. AmCham had also planned twomore
major activities for 2012.
One of these activities is this important training course for Police
Officers who are spread across the country.
This will fulfill a long awaited need for proper training of such
officers to enable them to implement the Intellectual Property Act No.
36 of 2003 which presently governs national law and administration
relating to Intellectual property in Sri Lanka protecting patents,
trademarks and service marks, industrial design and copyrights.
Sri Lanka and the US signed a Bilateral Agreement for the Protection
of Intellectual Property Rights in 1991, and Sri Lanka is also a party
to the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement in
the World Trade Organization.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka has taken a key role in
the past and shall continue to do so in the future, to facilitate the
awareness and the enforcement of these agreements and the existing IPR
law in Sri Lanka.
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