CARIPI

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.

On 23 June 2023, the CARIFORUM Innovation and Intellectual Property Project (CarIPI) project presented at the fourth Project Steering Committee meeting in Bridgetown, Barbados. Discussions took place on the status of its Component of the 11th European Development Fund support to CARIFORUM States in furthering the implementation of their European Partnership Agreement (EPA) commitments and in meaningfully benefitting from the EPA.

On 13 July 2023 the CARIFORUM Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation (CarIPI) project met with several heads of CARIFORUM IP offices that were present in Geneva, Switzerland for the World Intellectual Property Office General Assemblies from 6 -14 July.

CarIPI hosted a meeting to exchange views and discuss current priorities under the project, and possibly beyond April 2024. Find the CarIPI presentation on achievements and next steps shared with heads of industrial property offices

On 6 June 2023, the World Intellectual Property Organization hosted a webinar on trade mark examination. It was co-organised with the CARIFORUM Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation (CarIPI) project, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office and the Trinidad and Tobago Intellectual Property Office.