Adrian Frater, News Editor

A passerby stops to purchase a pair of flip-flop slippers, with the Jamaican flag in the insole, from a Montego Bay, St. James, vendor last month. - Contributed

GENEVA, Switzerland:

According to World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) officials, with the international protection offered to national symbols, the Jamaican government would be in its right to instruct customs officials to prevent certain goods from entering the country.

In making reference to an article recently published in The Sunday Gleaner titled 'Trampling on the Jamaican flag', a senior WIPO official said there should be nothing wrong with pulling the plug on the Brazilian-made flip flop slippers which are seemingly using the Jamaican flag in an inappropriate manner.

"When it comes to trademark, national symbols are off limit unless in the instances where governments grant permission," said Marcus Hoppenger, WIPO's acting director for Trademark, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications Law Division.

"If the law of Jamaica prevents locals from doing so, I think it would be appropriate to prevent the importation of such items."

According to The Sunday Gleaner story, published on October 15, when customs officials at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay were questioned as to why the slippers were allowed to enter Jamaica, they said they had not been instructed by any of the regulatory government agencies to stop them from entering Jamaica.

Authority to act

"The law gives us the authority to act for the government agency we work with and, from time to time, they will ask us to look out for and confiscate restricted items," a senior customs officer had said. "However, unless we are so instructed, we cannot act on our own and prevent any item from coming into the island."

While officials of the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce shied away from discussing the issue, the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO) did question the appropriateness of using a national symbol without official authorisation.

"Section 12 (1) of the (Jamaica Trademark) Act states that, 'a trademark which contains a representation of the Coat of Arms of Jamaica, the national flag of Jamaica and other national symbols shall not be registered ...," JIPO official Edward Brightly told The Sunday Gleaner.

"Anyone desirous of using a national symbol on their product must first get government permission or we will not register them."

WIPO is now siding with those persons who consider it inappropriate to have the Jamaican flag adorning the flip flop slippers in a manner that contravenes the protocol governing the use of the flag, which is never to be allowed to touch the ground.