From 13 - 17 November, CarIPI has scheduled technical assistance sessions with producers of Origin-linked Products (OLPs) from the CARIFORUM region. These producers have been selected to take part in the second phase of the project’s Mentorship Programme. During their field mission, the mentor team will be visiting sponge producers from the Bahamas, steelpan producers from Trinidad and Tobago and arrowroot producers from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

During the Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) from 9 to 13 October 2023, the CARIFORUM Intellectual Property Rights & Innovation Project (CarIPI), the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO), the CARICOM Agricultural Division and the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) collaborated to implement a series of activities focused on the intellectual property aspects of regional food systems.

On 27 September 2023, the CARIFORUM Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation (CarIPI) project organised an online meeting targeted at the 16 CARIFORUM IP offices to discuss the creation of a common list of goods and services.

A common list would increase transparency, certainty and the predictability of trade mark classification procedures in the Caribbean region.

This meeting is part of CarIPI’s Annual Work Plan 4, Activity 6: Support IPOs in Digitalization of their Business Processes and Databases.

The CarIPI project has commenced Cohort 2 of its Origin Link Products (OLP) mentorship programme in the CARIFORUM Member States. The programme is designed to provide producers with technical assistance to develop business strategies based on IP rights.

On 5 September 2023, the CARIFORUM Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation (CarIPI) project hosted an online workshop targeted at the 16 CARIFORUM IP offices to further discuss common practices in trade mark examination, and possibly agree on a regional paper or guidelines addressing the topic of descriptiveness of trade marks.