Seychelles marks World Intellectual Property Day |27 April 2018

The Ministry of Finance, Trade and Economic Planning in collaboration with the Creative Industries and National Events Agency, and other local partners joined the rest of the world yesterday to mark World Intellectual Property Day.

World Intellectual Property Day is commemorated annually every April 26 and this year’s World IP Day is being observed under the banner ‘Powering change: Women in innovation and creativity’.

The event, which took place at the International Conference Centre Seychelles (ICCS) car park, was aimed at increasing awareness on the role and importance of intellectual property rights in encouraging creativity and innovation.

Present at the fair’s brief opening ceremony were Vice-President Vincent Meriton, Minister for Investment, Industry and Entrepreneurship Development Wallace Cosgrow, principal Secretary for trade and chairperson of the Intellectual Property Committee Cilia Mangroo, principal secretary of the department of information communications technology Benjamin Choppy, the chief executive of Creative Industries and National Events Agency (Cinea) Galen Bresson amongst other guests.

VP Meriton said that intellectual property in Seychelles is a very important area which needs to be brought to the attention of the public from the young to the elderly and from consumers to producers. “Intellectual property allows for the protection that is provided in the form of rights for people’s creation and innovation. Furthermore, the protection of intellectual property rights can also be a catalyst in promoting more development in different sectors of our economy. It is a known fact that when people are confident that their work, ideas and inventions are being protected they would be encouraged to become even more creative,” said VP Meriton.

He added that we should also protect our genetic resources which are present in abundance in the flora and fauna of our beautiful islands and not forgetting the traditional knowledge that we have acquired from our ancestors over the years.

“This can bring about significant financial benefits to our country. Since last year, the government of Seychelles has discussed ways and means to be more proactive in ensuring that policies and awareness programmes are developed to enable the public and businesses in Seychelles to take full advantage of their intellectual property rights,” added VP Meriton.

It was in July 2017 that the Cabinet of Ministers approved the establishment of a National Intellectual Property Committee comprising governmental, non-governmental and private sector stakeholders. The aim of the committee is to coordinate discussions on intellectual property matters, including implementation, technical and legislative reviews. This committee also establishes national positions taking into consideration the international conventions relating to intellectual property which the country is party to or envisages to be party to.

Additionally, in February of this year, the Cabinet of Ministers also approved the establishment of a centralised Intellectual Property Office which is expected to be fully operational by June this year.

Mr Bresson explained that the initiative is directed towards the education of the public and private sector on intellectual property and how patents, trademarks, industrial designs, copyright, geographical indication are all fundamental parts of a successful and innovative brand.

For this reason, important stakeholders and regulatory bodies such as Office of the Registrar General, National Institute of Science, Technology and Innovation (Nisti), Small Enterprise Promotion Agency (Senpa) and the Seychelles Author and Composer Society were in attendance to provide the public with these types of information.

“Cinea’s mandate is to promote creativity but creativity itself does not generate money until it is registered and there are various offices and platforms for registration that most people do not know of,” Mr Bresson pointed out.

“Although this year’s theme revolves around women and creativity, we are also pushing for the sensitisation of all Seychellois. They need to understand that their ideas and creativity are important and needs to be registered and patented if they wish to take them further.”

SeyBrew for instance, continued Mr Bresson, is one prime example of a local brand that has been registered and, as of yet, no one has been able to emulate it hence it remains “uniquely Seychelles”.

Speaking about how intellectual property and entrepreneurship interlink, Minister Cosgrow said: “Entrepreneurs, especially those in the creative industries, should be made aware of how to better protect their creation in order to get the maximum out of those creations.”

He further stated that one of the challenges for local entrepreneurs is the copying of each other’s successes and which discourages creativity and original ideas.

The fair also included the involvement of women entrepreneurs who were showcasing their different locally made products such as glass art, souvenirs, traditional attires and fresh fruits juice and so forth.