Across the world, artists, writers, producers, musicians and all who express their own unique brand of creativity have for the most part, grown accustomed to the idea and indeed the expectation of some form of copyright protection for their work within their own countries. Where the laws permit under the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), there may be some reciprocity between countries that are signatories to the WTO agreement, provided that they have bothered to enact the laws necessary to afford the minimum standards of copyright protection under it.

When countries sign onto the accord, they agree to treat foreign products in the same manner as those indigenous to their country. The issue of copyright and the internet, however, encompasses several aspects of law and the interrelationship of different areas of the law, as well as and equally important, the diverse and ever emerging uses of the internet for artistic expressions, entertainment, business and education.

By definition Copyright is the protection given under Intellectual Property Law to creators of artistic and literary works for the control of the use of those works by other persons. It also ensures that creators can be financially compensated for their efforts. The situation however becomes much more complex when the use of the internet is involved in the dissemination of works which would normally be considered subject to copyright protection. It is without question that the use of the internet has provided creators with the means of disseminating works more widely and more rapidly than was possible even a decade ago. Concurrent with this development is that of the ability of anyone to use these works almost with impunity for whatever means they may desire.

The United States and the European Union have made various attempts and had varying degrees of success at regulating copyright on the internet, but the Caribbean region is a special case.

The Caribbean still rings through as dissonant on most Intellectual property issues since the levels of regulation and enforcement vary widely from country to country in the region. Important questions about copyright, the Caribbean, and the internet include some of the following: how is the everyday producer who uses the internet to promote his or her work protected from exploitation by other persons using the current regulatory schemes available? How should the Caribbean deal with plagiarism?

The regulatory schemes used by the EU and the US have tended to vary widely in approach, with the US opting for a more self regulatory approach by Internet bodies, whilst the EU seems to prefer a more restricted approach based on Government control. The debate continues to rage as to which approach would be better. But the Caribbean is yet to formulate its own ideas on how this issue might be approached collectively. In the meantime, Caribbean artists are left vulnerable and confused about issues concerning copyright.
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Contributed by Abiola Inniss

–Abiola Inniss LLB, LLM (Business Law), ACIArb mediator, and arbitrator, is a graduate of The DeMontfort University School of Law UK and a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators UK . She is a legal consultant in business law, law teacher, internationally published legal writer and speaker on Caribbean Intellectual Property , general Business law and ADR, and is a mediator of the Guyana Supreme Court. She resides both in Georgetown, Guyana and New York City, USA.

–Inniss is also the author of Copying, Copyright and the Internet (Lambert Academic Publishing, March 17, 2011).

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Related link:

[AntiguaBarbuda.net] In 2007, the WTO granted Antigua and Barbuda (in part) the right “to violate intellectual property rights of the U.S. by distributing copies of American CD or DVDs including music, movie and software products.”