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Promoting Intellectual Property Rights In Our Communities Can Help Rebuild The Haitian Economy
The mission envisioned by the Haitian-American Intellectual Property Association (HAIPA) is revolved around the use of intellectual property as a tool to help the Haitian economy grow in the 21st century. Intellectual property protection has emerged as the centerpiece or more precisely the developing force behind the growth of many nations. In support of this issue, Bruce Lehman, the Commissioner of the United States patent and trademark office declares that "intellectual property protection is a critical component of our technology-based economy. The Clinton Administration recognizes that intellectual property rights are a national resource and a key element of America's success in the global marketplace. If U.S. businesses are to remain competitive, the effective protection of intellectual property rights must be guaranteed throughout the world." Further, intellectual property protection has greatly contributed to the development of smaller countries such as Venezuela, Mexico, Argentina to name a few. Well, why not Haiti?
We need to foster an awareness of intellectual property rights in our communities and in our country. We strongly feel that every Haitian should know how their ideas or improvements thereof, their dreams, emotions that they can hear, feel, touch and see can be valuable assets. They should therefore know how to protect them, may it be in the form of a patent, a trademark, a copyright, or a trade secret. As rightfully pointed out by commissioner Lehman, these rights uphold the philosophy of rewarding individual effort as the best way of utilizing the talents of creators to advance public welfare. We need our musicians, writers, peasants, artists, inventors, students and professionals to know that it is not OK for an individual to copy, sample, reproduce, duplicate, broadcast, perform, or implement their ideas without proper authorization. They need to know that they can get protection for their properties under the law. Each Haitian needs to also bear in mind that it is as much of a crime to steal someone’s car, as it is to steal someone’s idea. They are both properties belonging exclusively to an individual or a group thereof. We also need to promote the growth of intellectual property protection in our communities and in our country. This promotion of the progress of science and the useful arts in our country can be fostered not only through the awareness of intellectual property in our communities, but also through the restructuring and modernizing of our intellectual property system. We believe that there’s a need for Haiti to have stricter intellectual property laws, which are further empowered by our civil and criminal procedure laws. More importantly, these laws need to be enforced and respected. We need to create specialized intellectual property courts to hear cases pertaining to copyright piracy, patent infringement, trademark counterfeiting, and unfair competition. Over the years, Haiti has participated in a variety of international intellectual property rights cooperative arrangements (trades, treaties, conventions). Haiti has been a member of the Patent Cooperative Treaty (PCT) since June 19, 1970 . Haiti is also affiliated with international copyright cooperative arrangements such as the Buenos Aires Convention(BAC) November 27, 1919, Universal Copyright Convention (UCC) Geneva Sept. 16, 1955, Berne January 11, 1996 (Paris), WTO January 30, 1996. We believe that our citizens and the country altogether should start reaping the benefits offered by such international cooperative arrangements. These measures, we believe, will motivate our citizens to be more innovative, while allowing them to profit from their intellectual properties in Haiti and abroad. These measures will also incite foreign nations in seeking protection in Haiti for their intellectual properties, as well as providing them with a greater sense of security in establishing stronger economic relations with our country. It is in this perspective that we're are asking each Haitian to join hands with us in rebuilding our nation’s economy through the promotion of intellectual property rights in our communities. For together, we can safely lead Haiti into a bright 21 century. |
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