What do you think about when you hear the term intellectual property (IP)?
If protecting your ideas and intangible creations such as music, literature, art, brand, logo or business come to mind then, you’re right!
IP, according to the Intellectual Property Office located on Frederick Street, Port of Spain, is “the expressed creation of the human mind” and intellectual property rights are “granted by the state to creators for defined categories of creations that satisfy a threshold level of newness. The rights are granted with exceptions and limitations.”
The IP office falls under the purview of the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs, and it is the local government agency responsible for handling the registration of intellectual property rights.
Copyright and related rights, patents, utility certificates, industrial designs, trademarks and service marks, geographical indications, layout designs of integrated circuits, new plant varieties and trade secrets are different types of IP handled by the department.
IP law while not new to Trinidad and Tobago, has been growing in recent years, said IP lawyer Terita Kalloo, as many more people were seeking to protect their creations and ideas to generate income and build a brand or legacy.
Sunday Newsday met with Kalloo at her office Terita Kalloo Law at Griffith Court on Edward Street in Port of Spain to get an idea of the progress of the practice in the country.
She said there were less than 75 lawyers practising IP law in TT but the demand for protection of rights has been growing, especially in the areas of agriculture, the creative and entertainment industries and for micro, small and medium enterprises.
Kalloo said TT has robust systems to file for protection of IP, but people were unaware about utilising it to their advantage.
While it is not a clear-cut black and white model where costs were concerned, she said the process was fairly simple to manoeuvre.
“People think of it as a frill when in reality it is very beneficial for small businesses and not just large entities. Filing for some IPs can be inexpensive, and people can do it for themselves. You do not need anyone (lawyer) to do this for you, the IP office has a host of resources online to assist.”
Kalloo, 32, had doubts about her career in law and later found her passion in IP law when she was transferred to the IP Office. She now specialises in IP and entertainment law and is in her ninth year of practice in the legal profession and runs a boutique IP law practice.
She graduated from St Augustine Girls' High School where she won a national scholarship for business studies and went on to study law at the University of the West Indies and then at Hugh Wooding Law School in 2012.
She served at the Ministry of the Attorney General as part of their process review team and also as director on the state board National Quarries Ltd, as well as corporate secretary of Build to Last Hardware and Roof Manufacturing Ltd, a post she currently holds.
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