IP ArchIPelago

  Securing Copyright in Soca Music Vasha Maharaj* Copyright law and soca have a challenging relationship. It must be considered how to protect original works while allowing the genre with its sharing norms to flourish. The judgement in  Full Blown Entertainment [1]   was unable to adequately address this concern. [2]  Specifically, the Trinidad and Tobago law on copyright sits uneasily with riddim culture, generic cultural references and music sampling and interpolation that is prevalent in the soca industry. Therefore, this blog post offers insight into some of the challenges concerning soca music and copyright law in Trinidad and Tobago. Full Blown Entertainment v Matthews The court held that the phrase, ‘wine with no worries’ and its syncopation did not meet the requisite originality standard to attract copyright protection. Justice Seepersad argued that the words comprise ‘elements of the genre’ of soca, the implication of which holds them to be too generic to sa...

  The AI Copyright Dilemma Dareem Scipio* Since the public release of artificial intelligence technologies such as OpenAI last year, the United States Copyright Office (USCO) has reported a significant increase in persons seeking copyright protection for works generated by these technologies. This development has raised questions about whether AI generated works meet the long-established criteria necessary for copyright protection, particularly the requirement of human authorship. [1]   On a strict interpretation of the current laws relating to authorship, any work solely generated by AI generated technologies will be incapable of obtaining copyright protection. The challenge involves those cases where there is a mixture of human involvement or authorship and mechanical ‘designer-ship’ by AI technologies. In such cases, the primary issue becomes whether the level of human involvement is such that the resulting work constitutes an original work of human authorship. Even then a ...

  Don't Do It:  Nike's Fight Against Counterfeit Trade Mark Goods Dareem Scipio* Counterfeit goods are defined as those bearing an identical trade mark without authorization of the rightholder. [1]  In recent times, there has been a proliferation of counterfeit goods making their way into our markets. Unfortunately, although there are intellectual property laws in place to counter the illicit trade of these goods, enforcement of these laws remains a difficult task or non-existent. Apart from the legal side of things, there is also the social/ethical aspect whereby persons do not view the trade of counterfeit goods as a crime/wrong and freely engage and participate in its consumption and use. However, the impact of these activities can have dire consequences on rightholders, causing damage to a brand’s image and reputation and more importantly, financial losses. There has therefore been an extra push by rightholders to protect their brands through cross-border surveillance...

  Copyright After Death: The Blaxx Bacchanal Dareem Scipio* The family of the late soca Icon Blaxx has issued a warning to those seeking to release his songs recorded but not released before his death. In response there has been various types of commentary on social media many of which highlight a clear ignorance of how intellectual property law works. One social media post in particular was the definition of oxymoronic. In one vein the author expressed his disappointment with the family of the late singer’s actions and made some accusations against the deceased singer’s estate. On the other hand, the author called for the release of the music to be done in the right way, unaware maybe, that the family’s action might be part of the process of doing it the right way. This short blogpost is in response to the confusion surrounding the ownership of copyright following the death of a person.   Duration of Copyright Protection Generally, copyright protection survives the death of a...

  All I want for Christmas is a Trade Mark Dareem Scipio* Mariah Carey has just failed in her attempt to trademark the phrase “Queen of Christmas”. Whattttt... isn't she…the Queen of Christmas!? Well, she might be the undoubted Queen for several persons but not for fellow singer Elizabeth Chan, who opposed Carey’s application to trademark the phrase. [1]  This situation provides an excellent example of the preliminary steps that must take place before a trademark can officially be registered. The preliminary steps in registering marks are almost universal so although Carey’s application would have taken place in the United States, the learning can be applied elsewhere including of course in the Caribbean. So, what are these essential steps?   The first step towards the registration of any mark is the making of an application with the relevant office. In Trinidad and Tobago, this is outlined in section 5(1) of the Trade Mark 2015 which states that an application must be ma...