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Caribbean Intellectual Property; The concept of Fair Usage

By Abiola Inniss LLB, LLM, ACIArb At almost any time that the issue of Intellectual Property is discussed by peoples of the Caribbean there is considerable confusion and uncertainty to be found about what the law says, what it means and what the rights of usage are. This is not surprising or unexpected since many lawyers are themselves hard put upon to provide pertinent answers to the many arising issues. This is not aided in the least by broad statements on intellectual property such as the definitions given by WIPO which are a general aid to understanding the subject area but which cannot deal with the variations in national laws and which do not explain that with any of the rights described, responsibilities also exist. With the starkness of the non-existence of a regional policy on Intellectual Property and the absence in several countries of comprehensive, modern laws, the situation becomes an interesting mixture of self preservation, individual moral direction (or misdirec