Agreement to lead to first ever fully automated BIP in the Caribbean
PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Tourism & Economic Affairs, Transport & Telecommunications (Ministry TEATT) Hon. Ted Richardson during a recent working visit to the Netherlands signed an agreement with Benelux Bureau for Intellectual Property (BOIP) for the establishment of the Sint Maarten BIP.
The Sint Maarten BIP will be the first ever fully automated bureau in the Caribbean.
Intellectual property is the collective term for rights to intellectual creations such as books, music, trademarks, designs, inventions, software, texts and photographs.
A single creation may be protected by multiple rights at the same time. The best known intellectual property rights are trademark, copyrights and patent rights.
The Benelux BOIP is the official body for the registration of trademarks and designs in the Benelux (Belguim, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg), in addition, the bureau offers the possibility to formally record the existence of ideas, concepts, designs prototypes and the like.
Benelux BOIP is headed by its Director General Edmond Simon who signed the agreement with Minister Richardson. After the signing, tokens of appreciation were exchanged followed by the presentation on the registration of Trademarks which were made in the presence of many executives of Benelux BOIP, including Paul van Beukering, who is in charge of BES (Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius) islands bureau within the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs.
During a presentation, emphasis was made on how everything would be digital and how future registrations could take place via a website and completed within a few days, compared to the existing manual procedure that presently exist in Curacao, Antigua or elsewhere in the region.
Sint Maarten BIP holds a lot of potential for the country where the I-Envelope, a much less costly procedure for small crafters and artists are able to utilize to protect their creative work. This system could be of great value to local and regional small entrepreneurs.
The presentation also included a detailed breakdown of the fees to be paid that could be done in phases. The fees include the establishment of a working website and the training of future employees of Sint Maarten BIP.
Minister Hon. Ted Richardson during the historic meeting and agreement signing expressed his willingness to have Sint Maarten BIP once established, to assist in the execution of the absolute assessments for the Dutch Caribbean Netherlands islands of Saba and St. Eustatius, if needed. Benelux BOIP and Van Beikering were very appreciative of the gesture.
Minister Hon. Ted Richardson was very appreciative of the diligent work carried out by his Cabinet with the assistance of a designated consultant Rene Mazel.
The Minister's delegation comprised of Chef de Cabinet and Personal Advisor Ludwig Ouenniche and Jaap van Duinkerken from Ministry TEATT.
