For many people, when they hear the words reggae and dancehall, they think about music, but for savvy business-oriented minds, they know that the value of reggae is in the intellectual property.
No one has exploited the business of reggae like Chris Blackwell and the Marley family.
A Bob Marley exhibit sanctioned by the Marley family is coming to Toronto. They have achieved this by branding Marley’s legendary and timeless music with emerging and evolving lifestyles. The family-owned company, Bob Marley Group, sells and manages the main reggae brand “Bob Marley,” which includes a museum, art exhibits, coffee products, music, hotels, T-shirts, headphones, concerts, tours, and at one time even featured Bob Marley shoes (long before Kanye’s billion-dollar Yeezys).
Cedella Marley and her son Saiyan Marley view a Mr. Brainwash work at the Bob Marley One Love Experience at the Saatchi Gallery. Photograph: Ian West/PA Chris Blackwell, who brought Marley to fame, commodifies the “Island” name, and under the “Island Outpost” brand, there are several luxury hotels, coffee outlets, restaurants, and shopping experiences.
Other people take a more direct approach to finding products and intellectual property to associate with reggae. When World Music Views checked with the Jamaica Intellectual Property (JIPO) Office, we discovered that there are 56 dancehall-related trademark filings and over 300 reggae-related filed trademarks.
These trademarks range from restaurants to sports to magazines and T-shirts. Trademarks are intellectual property, and filing to register a mark protects businesses from encroaching competitors.
According to JIPO, the period of protection of a Trademark is for ten years upon registration, and this period can be renewed indefinitely. Trademark proprietors in Jamaica can initiate civil suits against infringers or make complaints of incidents of trademark infringement to the IP Unit of the Organized Crime Division of the Jamaica Constabulary Force for the initiation of a criminal action.
The main purpose of this mark is to indicate that those using it belong to a specific association, but the cultural capital of reggae and dancehall is being co-branded, commodified, exploited, added to various products, services, and offerings in every industry—from finance to private equity, sports, entertainment, food and hospitality, and more categories.
Jamaica is now a signatory to the Madrid Protocol as of March 2022, which means that marks registered in Jamaica offer coverage in 125 other territories.
‘Reggae’ Trademarks
Some of the marks discovered at the Intellectual Property Office include “International Reggae Day,” a day marked to celebrate reggae culture and music on July 1 owned by Jamaica Arts Holding Ltd., and it is up for renewal as of August 2022. “Reggae Boyz,” the name of Jamaica’s national football team, is registered by the Jamaica Football Federation, and “Reggae Girls” and “Reggae Girlz” were previously registered by Wisynco Group in class 32 since 1997. The JFF somehow acquired the trademark and has been the registered owners of the name since 2017.
“Reggae Beach” is owned by the Michael Lee Chin-owned Portland Holdings since 2019. Businessman Richard Lake registered and applied for the marks “Reggae Rider” in 1998 and “Reggae Water,” which have all since been withdrawn or removed. Lotto company Supreme Ventures presently owns “Reggae 6,” “Reggae Got Soul” is registered in 4 classes by Fredrick Hibbert, and Reggae Republic is registered in class 32 by Annabella Traders Ltd. since 2017.
On the hospitality side, “Reggae Suite” is registered by Jamaica All Suites Hotel, and “Hot Reggae Sauce” has been registered since 1992.
Hiding Trademarks From Competitors
Jamaica has been a territory used to hide trademarks for a long time for the simple fact that the marks are not made available online like in the U.S.. For persons to inquire about a mark, you would need to go inside the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office and do a manual search.
Companies like Apple register trademarks in countries that have no online search facilities to make it harder for people to spot new registered names. U.S. law allows a company to register a trademark in any country in the world and later do so in the USA also, so long as the U.S. registration occurs within six months.
Recently, Bloomberg writer Mark Gurman tweeted that Apple filed for its “Dynamic Island” trademark in Jamaica on July 12, giving them 6 months to follow up with a priority trademark application in the U.S.
Apple has also filed a trademark application in New Zealand which also references the Jamaican trademark filing. Now Apple owns a few trademarks in Jamaica including “Apple Music” registered a decade ago identifiable with the words and the Apple logo. Digicel’s “D’ Music” also has their trademark registered in Jamaica.
Jamaica is not unique in its ability to hide trademarks; in the Caribbean Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Peru also require in-person application searches.
Jamaica, however, has been a popular choice for Apple in their fight against the Sleuths, according to Bloomberg.
The Jamaica Intellectual Property Office is housed in a modern palm-flanked building in the capital, Kingston. Thirty-one people work there, and at least 10 trademark searches are conducted each day, according to the office’s director Lilyclaire Bellamy. The only way to conduct searches is in-person, meaning sleuths need to fly to Jamaica or hire a local trademark lawyer to search the office’s computer system like an old-school library.
