Ross Sheil, Staff Reporter

Jamaica has remained on the United States' intellectual property rights watchlist and, according to Melanie Graham, marketing director of Palace Amusement Company Ltd., the country needs to do more to educate its citizens about the issue.

Palace Amusement has long complained that pirated DVDs, readily available on Jamaican streets, are threatening the viability of their movie theatre business. Palace Amusement is a member of the Jamaica Anti-Piracy Alliance (JAPA) which last week launched a nationwide advertising campaign.

"We have been making steps and we have been having some results but I don't think the thrust is there yet," said Mrs. Graham. "I think we need to take more steps such as educating schoolchildren, as they do in Britain."

Jamaica was specifically cited on the 32-country second tier of the U.S. list for having not yet amended its patents and design legislation to comply with international standards. The U.S. could press for sanctions at the World Trade Organisation for the 12 countries in the top tier.

However, 'offenders' interviewed by The Gleaner confirmed the fears of anti-piracy campaigners that Jamaicans are unsympathetic to their cause. The Government has itself yet to comply with U.S. requests to make local cable companies pay for the programming they air from their U.S. counterparts.

"Honestly mi nah see nuthin' really wrong with it - reason being some people see it as making an honest bread and don't see a Alickle man on the road sees it as a way to eat a food and if he can, he will," explained one seller of bootleg DVDs.

He said pirated DVDs, sold for as low as $150, were attractive to consumers in comparison to genuine versions, costing around $2,000.

Downloading likely to increase

A middle-class artist, who illegally downloads movies and music from the Internet, shrugged off the contradiction between himself as someone who earns a living from his own intellectual property against stealing that of others. Downloading from the Internet via 'torrent' technology, which the artist uses, is likely to increase in Jamaica - driven by the expansion and competition in the telecommunications industry which has given people cheaper access to higher bandwidth.

ross.sheil@gleanerjm.com