PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad—Former Legal Affairs Minister in the People's National Movement (PNM) government, Peter Taylor, has slammed the People's Partnership Government for failing to honour international obligations with respect to payments of annuities on patents and trademarks related to the Genesis Pan (G-Pan).
On May 7, 2009 Everard Byer, a registered patent and trade mark agent, was authorised to "coordinate the payment of annuities payable in respect of the patent rights in the G-Pan musical instrument on behalf of the Ministry of the Attorney General", a release from Taylor stated yesterday.
Annuities are payable every year.
Taylor said he was informed by Byer in a letter dated June 19, 2012, that the "annuities and fees due to the overseas attorneys who were retained to prosecute the patent and trademark applications remains unpaid by the government of Trinidad and Tobago".
"Urgent steps are therefore required to prevent a domino effect that could be precipitated by the non-payment of the annuities, to ensure that the investment and hard-won worldwide intellectual property protection afforded to this invention is not lost," Taylor stated.
Byer has been "inundated" with reminder notices for the annuity payments.
Taylor said if the annuities are not paid it will represent an "international embarrassment of the highest order" with the government unable to honour its contractual obligations.
Taylor said once it is properly managed the G-Pan could be an answer for the current crime scourge and be as important to the country's economy as the creation of Point Lisas Industrial Estate was. (Trinidad Express)
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