Citing buckling under pressure of the Jamaican judicial system, one lead professor at Harvard Law School, along with his team, is on a mission to deepen the understanding of issues surrounding copyright through a pilot project slated to get off the ground in the island.

In cooperation with the Norman Manley Law School, Professor Charles Nesson and his team will be organising and leading a copyright course using an online platform.

The course will be offered over 12 weeks beginning the week of January 28.

Sarah Hall, who will be leading the programme in Jamaica, said the local section of the course endeavours to bring together Jamaican jurists, lawyers, policymakers, and stakeholders from the creative industries to achieve a deeper understanding of the relevance and potential of copyright for the island.

"This course is a pilot course that we are hoping to use as a model to expand to other locations, so Jamaica is the first of its kind. It is the only satellite-course location offering this particular copyright course in this semester," said Hall.

CRITICAL TO PROTECT RIGHTS

While noting that "the creative industry is at the heart of what Jamaica does best", she said the course was critical to safeguarding the industry.

Nesson, who is co-founder of Berkman Centre for Internet and Society at Harvard Law and a well-known activist against Internet barriers, said one underlying mission of the course is to examine ways to "get the Internet to be useful in Jamaica" amid the ever-looming threat of copyright litigation.

"For me, the potential is not just everybody getting online; that's not it. It's how to use the riches of the world which are now accessible on the Internet in ways that will now work for (Jamaica)," he said.

"We are very eager to pursue a model where we put out the core of what we offer, but in a form that teaches in satellite places like (Norman) Manley Law School."