MONTEGO BAY, St James — Chargé d’Affaires in the United States Embassy in Kingston Eric Khant is lamenting that violation of intellectual property rights (IPR) has been allowed to flourish in Jamaica and other countries because of a failure to nip it in the bud.

“So this problem is that, like cancer, it didn’t get treated very well at the early stage, so it has spread now and we are playing catch-up,” Khant noted.

“Some people think that the only victims of IP (intellectual property) crimes are big corporations. And, you know, that is not true, and we know for a fact that many small businesses are adversely affected by IP crimes, and consumers. So, in that sense, we are all victims,” he continued.

Arguing that up to two decades ago IP crimes were considered merely as “a couple of petty criminals making counterfeit CDs and DVDs in their basement”, the chargé d’affaires bemoaned that it has now spilled over into other areas, such as medicine.

“Imagine driving a car with unreliable parts imagine using electrical products in your home that children play with that don’t reach fire standards. Worst, imagine using fake medicines — that has fatal consequences. By the way, 30 per cent of medicine that is sold across the globe is fake medicine,” Khant said.

The chargé d’affaires at the US Embassy was speaking at a recent three-day intellectual property rights enforcement training that was put on by the US Government and the Government of Jamaica at the Secrets Wild Orchard Resorts in Montego Bay, St James.

The training, which was led by criminal investigators from the US Department of Homeland Security along with trade industry representatives, focused on intellectual property rights crimes with a connection to organised crime, which included case studies on counterfeit cellphones, cigarettes, pharmaceuticals, and other consumer goods.

In the meantime, Rohan Richards, chief technical director at the intellectual property rights enforcement training, disclosed that up to April 2017, “the JCF (Jamaica Constabulary Force) Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Branch reported that it had destroyed $1.9 billion in counterfeit goods”.

“At the local level, the Jamaica Customs Agency reported that, for the financial year 2015/2016, over $110 million of goods that infringed on IPR were seized and in addition, some $523.4 million worth of similar products were disposed of,” Richards said.

Khant praised members of the JCF for their fight against IP violators.

“In Jamaica I know the police have had some very well-trained group of people that specialises in enforcing IP-related laws,” he declared.

— Horace Hines