The Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO) is well advanced with plans to ensure that the intellectual property (IP) ecosystem in Jamaica is strong.

Project manager for the IP Strengthening Project – Jamaica Kayanne Anderson disclosed that there is limited knowledge of IP valuation generally. So as to facilitate commercial lending using IP as collateral, there is a need to develop a cadre of experts in Jamaica in IP valuation. In that regard, she noted that the IP strengthening project has already achieved relative success

“There was a massive interest and registration from over 400 persons locally and across the Caribbean. Eventually, around 340 were trained in understanding introduction of valuation to intellectual property.”

Deputy director of JIPO Dr Marcus Goffe said this was an important part of the project because many financial institutions were concerned with how IP will be valuated.

“Having done some consultations some years ago we recognised that one of their main concern was this inability to value IP rights and to therefore assess their risk if they were to decide to lend to a MSME using IP as collateral.”

JIPO hopes to improve the IP monetisation culture in Jamaica, reduce obstacles for accessing credit by IP-based firms and improve the IP ecosystem to facilitate increased innovation, competitiveness and growth in Jamaica.

The project is financed by the Compete Caribbean Partnership Facility – a private sector programme jointly funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Government of Canada.

Anderson highlighted that “In most cases, legal and financial regulations and/or the lack thereof, limit the options for IP to be optimally used to leverage its true financial potential in national and international markets. The absence of supporting financial structures makes these limits appear insurmountable. IP owners in some countries have benefited from the existence of legal and financial frameworks that have enabled them to leverage the financial potential of IP through mechanisms such as auctioning, collateralisation, securitisation, direct sell and licensing, of IP assets.”

The project comprises of five components:

Component 1 (Roadmap and Toolkit for Improving the IP Monetisation Culture) will finance the development of a three-year road map for strengthening the IP ecosystem to facilitate an increase in the monetisation of IP assets in Jamaica. This will include the development of an IP toolkit tailored to the Jamaican context to bridge knowledge gaps within the private and public sectors on the steps which need to be taken to create, manage, monetise and protect IP assets in Jamaica.

Component 2 (Capacity Building in IP Valuation) will fund the drafting of valuation guidelines for the different categories of IP assets (patents, copyrights, designs, and trademarks) adapted to the Jamaican context. The component will also finance the design and conduct of training workshops for bankers, lawyers, accounts, auditors and insurance risk managers in valuation and valuation techniques in order to build local understanding and expertise in valuation, a necessary prerequisite for the recognition and acceptance by financial institutions of IP assets as collateral.

Component 3 focuses on Piloting IP Collateralisation. The consultants under this component are currently researching and will design and roll-out a financial product(s) to test the use of IP assets as collateral in Jamaica. This component will be piloted by one or more financial institutions.

Component 4 (Support for the Digitisation of JIPO’s Administration of IPR) provides support for digitising JIPO’s paper-based IP registration system in order to increase the efficiency of business processes related to IPR and to improve the experience of users of the IP system. This component will also produce an action plan detailing and costing priority activities that must take place for a fully automated IP administration system to support the digital economy.

Component 5 of the project covers Project Management and Communications and includes (i) a local project manager; (ii) an awareness campaign strategy; and (iii) the development of public relations materials highlighting successful cases of IP commercialisation in Jamaica.

Looking ahead, JIPO representatives along with Intellect Management Services Inc, Barbados (Component 1), Valuation Consulting, UK (Component 2) and Kozolchyk National Law Centre, USA (Component 3) will be contacting stakeholders in the financial and MSME sectors to commence consultations and workshops for this exciting watershed project, which promises to remove barriers and open opportunities for IP-based financing for MSMEs in Jamaica.