Sri Lanka has appointed an eminent legal personality and a time-honoured expert in Intellectual Property (IP) to lead the country’s historic accession to the international trademark system called the Madrid Protocol. And the accession is slated to be completed by August next year.
“We thank you for your contribution to the development of our intellectual property” said the Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen on 17 August. Minister Bathiudeen was addressing the 7 of the 11 members of the newly appointed Intellectual Property Advisory Commission of Sri Lanka (IPACSL) on 18 August at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Colombo. The IPACSL is the guiding mechanism advising the National Intellectual Property Office under the Minister of Industry and Commerce on matters on IP & patents and their future direction. Minister Bathiudeen was making the appointments on 18 August as per Section 162 of Intellectual Property Act No 36 of 2003 which stipulates “the Minister may constitute an Advisory Commission for the purpose of advising him in relation to the law relating to Copyright, Industrial Designs, Marks, Patents, and unfair competition and any other area or subject of intellectual property.”
“We thank you for your contribution to the development of our intellectual property. You bring a wealth of expertise to Sri Lanka’s Intellectual Property domain” said Minister Bathiudeen, and added: “I direct you to focus on clearing any pending backlogs, fast-tracking the Madrid Convention and amendments to Copyright laws so that our entire IP gathers speed for development. I thank World Intellectual Property Organisation for its support on Madrid Convention. We shall achieve Madrid by August 2018, if things go according to plans. The Unity Government aims to develop our knowledge economy and also exports to greater levels and IP plays a key role in it.”
“We thank Minister Bathiudeen for honoring us with these appointments” said Dr Swaminathan, the new Chairperson of the Commission, responding to Minister Bathiudeen, “We will render our best efforts clear all pending backlogs and upgrade the present legal framework in par with international standards. Especially, my priority is to prepare our National Intellectual Property Office (NIPO) and make it more efficient towards the adoption of Madrid Standards, in a year’s time. Earlier we planned to achieve this by the end of this year but due to heavy load at NIPO, we are calling for a little more time. Our Trademark Application processing will be speeded up. In that, my immediate focus is to ensure that Sri Lanka will implement the Madrid Convention at its earliest possible opportunity. We are also focusing on amending the Copyright Laws so that latest digital property rights and laws are integrated. Sri Lanka’s digital property changes will be along the lines of the most modern digital laws in the world at this moment- the European Commission that is.”
Dr Swaminathan, a longstanding advisor of IPACSL, was himself a former Chairperson of it at one time-in 1989-90 functioning under the then Trade and Shipping Minster R. Mansoor. Dr Swaminathan holds LLB (Ceylon), LLM, M. Phil. (Colombo and LLD (Honoris Causa) Degrees and is an Attorney-at-Law and in the legal profession for over 50 years. He is the Precedent Partner of Messrs. Julius & Creasy and is a Member of the Law Commission of Sri Lanka and Former Member of the Council of Legal Education. He is also a Member of the Company Law Advisory Commission and Intellectual Property Law Advisory Commission, in addition holding many other high tier appointments in the legal sphere of Sri Lanka.
Accordingly, Minister Bathiudeen has appointed Dr JM Swaminathan (Attorney at Law and senior partner of Julius and Creasy, one of the oldest civil law firms in Sri Lanka), as the new Chairperson of IPACSL. Other members appointed on 17 August were Mrs Suganthi Wijayasuriya-Kadirgamar (Senior Partner F. J. & G. de Saram), Dr Nishantha Sampath Punchihewa (Senior Lecturer in Law-Colombo University), Tilak Kariyawasam (Chairman and Executive Director of Sri Lanka Nature Group), Prof. Ajith P de Alwis (Moratuwa University), and Lakshan Algama Perera (Representative of Exporters Association of Sri Lanka) while Geethanjali Ranawaka (Director-General of Intellectual Property) becomes the ex-officio member.
Previously on 27 April, Minister Bathiudeen announced that Rs 100 million has been allocated by his Ministry for work on Sri Lanka’s accession to the Madrid Protocol. “We made a collective decision to proceed to Madrid system in 2015 with the collaboration of our exporters. NIPO has already commenced upgrading their IP system so that NIPO systems are Madrid compatible. A complete restructuring program of NIPO is underway” said Minister Bathiudeen.
Sri Lanka’s Madrid Protocol accession will open doors for the country’s brands to register their trademarks in a single filing across multiple jurisdictions, activated at the same time, and affords strong IP protection for Lankan brands at global level for the first time.
The IPACSL appointed on 17 August shall end its term on 17 August 2020.