“We thank you for your contribution to the development of our intellectual property” said Minister Rishad Bathiudeen on 17th August. He was addressing the 7 of the 11 members of the newly appointed Intellectual Property Advisory Commission of Sri Lanka (IPACSL) at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Colombo.

“I direct you to focus on clearing any pending backlogs, fast-tracking the Madrid Convention and amendments to Copyright laws so that our entire IP gathers speed for development.  We shall achieve Madrid by August 2018, if things go according to schedule. The Unity Government aims to develop our knowledge economy and also exports to greater levels and IP plays a key role in it.”

The minister announced that Rs 100 million has been allocated by his Ministry for work on Sri Lanka’s accession to the Madrid Protocol. “We made a collective decision to proceed to Madrid system in 2015 with the collaboration of our exporters. NIPO has already commenced upgrading their IP system so that NIPO systems are Madrid compatible. A complete restructuring program of NIPO is underway” said Minister Bathiudeen.

 
Sri Lanka’s Madrid Protocol accession will open doors for the country’s brands to register their trademarks in a single filing across multiple jurisdictions, activated at the same time, and affords strong IP protection for Lankan brands at global level for the first time.