US Government Coordinates IP Training Through CIIPO

The Cayman Islands Intellectual Property Office (CIIPO) worked with United States Government enforcement agencies to stage regional intellectual property (IP) training in the Cayman Islands.

CIIPO, which falls under the remit of the Ministry of Financial Services, coordinated the enforcement training through the Homeland Security Investigations division. The sessions, which took place 23-26 July on Grand Cayman, focused on investigations and enforcement operations, specifically concerning counterfeit goods and their connection to transnational organised crime.

Financial Services Minister Tara Rivers addressed the opening of the conference and stated the strength of Cayman’s IP regime factored into the US Government’s decision to stage its training sessions in the Cayman Islands.

‘Our ability to enforce IP rights has not gone unnoticed by our biggest trade partner, the United States of America’, Minister Rivers said. ‘Our IP regime has been modernised over the last decade and offers a full suite of IP rights protection’.

‘Government also recognises that offering legislation to preserve creations is not only crucial for businesses in today’s global economy, but a necessary part of Cayman’s contributions to international law enforcement investigations that span multiple jurisdictions’, she said.

Leading last week’s training were US Government officials from the Department of State, Homeland Security, Customs and Border Patrol, Department of Justice, the Patent and Trademark Office and the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center.

They instructed members of Cayman’s law enforcement agencies, along with representatives from the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, St. Lucia, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, and Jamaica.

The US Government usually conducts regional IP training in developing countries in Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia. This training is provided to foreign law enforcement, customs officials, prosecutors, regulatory officials and judges charged with enforcing IP crime in their respective jurisdictions.