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I have taken time to evaluate my doubts about the announcement made on 9 August concerning Geographical Indication certification for pan.
A number of fanciful and overstated claims were made about the Geographical Indication (GI) certificate which was flourished on stage in the hands of the Minister of Tourism and Culture and the President of Pan Trinbago.
Photo: Pan Trinbago
This column has coined phrases such as “panyard model” and “prime bands in prime time”—the latter being persuasive in having Pan Trinbago re-consider whether premier bands should have to play to depleted Panorama audiences at very late hours.
My latest concern is best expressed as no more mamaguy with GI. I am raising some critical matters regarding the proper administration of the grant of GI certification. These require attention in order to avoid serious reputational damage to our country as the mecca of pan.
GI is intellectual property and is described below. In my view, how one applies for and qualifies to obtain certification should be the subject of published regulations, the administration of which should be the responsibility of the Intellectual Property Office (just, for example, as there are trademark regulations).
There are also troubling indications that the Intellectual Property Office may have been led into a mis-understanding of its functions as the regulator of intellectual property by unwisely treating with Pan Trinbago as an entity qualified to receive a grant of GI certification or otherwise to administer the process.
There may be conflicts of interest ahead.
Most importantly, GI certification has qualitative implications. Certification endorses the quality of the class of products certified. Here is a description of GI drawn from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO):
“A geographical indication (GI) is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
“In order to function as a GI, a sign must identify a product as originating in a given place.”
The WIPO learning continues: “In addition, the qualities, characteristics or reputation of the product should be essentially due to the place of origin. Since the qualities depend on the geographical place of production there is a clear link between the product and it original place of production.”
Readers will take note of the stated expectation that the quality and reputation of the GI certified product, in this case the pan instrument, is linked to its place of production.
I have repeatedly acknowledged the scientific genius of the inventors and pioneering tuners. However if we are going into GI certification, do we at the present time have in sufficient quantity and quality—the three principal things in place that go into making a pan in order to endorse the quality of pan instruments made in Trinidad and Tobago?
The three things are a reliable supply of quality drums in the numbers required, a cadre of expert pan tuners and a chroming facility comparable to those abroad where many pans are sent for that part of the process of pan making.
Recent columns have dealt with these three things, but there is need to expand on all of them in the context of GI Certification.
I listen carefully to the experienced pan persons who seek me out. My information is that there is a critical lack of pan tuners available to tune any significant volume of pans that we may be able to build and for which to seek GI certification.
It is well known in pan circles that there have been occasions when foreign tuners were engaged in preparation for Panorama.
Photo: Pan on the Net
Regarding the shortage of pan tuners, one knowledgeable source put it this way: “To match the volume of pan tuners abroad who have met qualitative standards we are a drop in the bucket.”
Another said: “At the rate we are going we will need to rely on foreign tuners because the rate at which we produce pan tuners does not cut it.”
This source feels strongly that pan tuning must be elevated into a profession for membership of which education and training must be far deeper than at present.
GI certification is a complex subject. It will be necessary to return to the practical realities set out above.
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Martin G Daly SC is a prominent attorney-at-law. He is a former Independent Senator and past president of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago.
He is chairman of the Pat Bishop Foundation and a steelpan music enthusiast.
Dear mr Daly, the GI process is very thorough, the TTIPO( trinidad intellectual property office) has copious simple documentation on the outline procedures to apply for a GI. The issue, and why your source hides under cover of anonymity is symptomatic of our underdeveloped democracy, we dont like to criticise calmly and obectively in a public forum, cultural and class trait, your repetition of a few select points of the WIPo( world intelkectual property office) are correct BUT you do not educate the reader on the 2 -4 years of training in communal resource management, shared income and shared liability among other legal administrative matters, the core issue in any GI administration is the management body, this is not and cannot be the TTIPO, this management body must come from the persons with a clear connection to and deep interest in the subject product, this is where our Steelpan and Our Moruga Hill Rice have a commonality, the social transcendence – Pan was “the ruffians music ting” – Moruga Hill rice was ” de red rice in de bush quite dong dey fa wild meat” – bland oversimplifications I know but needed to convey our lack of appreciation for ours. I only know one panman, who has been consistent in his intellect, business acumen and emgineering discipline and Rigor, if Mrs Ramsey Moore can have mr Lawford Duprey teach these management skills to the Pan GI management Body, and then to the pan yards seeking to become full time professional pan men, they will be doing what we are doing with moruga hill rice and creating a training curriculum, a model farm and quality standards in line with global best practices for Moruga Hill rice.
I am keen to understand the GI protocol as applied to manufactured products. I understand for food and beverages, for e.g., champagne, tequila, Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee and Trinidad Montserrat Hills cocoa. Is a Trinidad Steelpan indicating something unique since modern manufacturing processes use parts and services from various places overseas? If one says a German automobile or a Japanese car, is that an IP that can’t be replicated anywhere else? Or is that a proprietary product design and some original patents? What has the IP on pan been like lately? Last one I knew about got a law suit from government. And we here could not successfully challenge a US patent on a manufacturing process explored by local engineers but registered here since the 1970s.