SMC trademarks its logo and names of carnival-related events

By Linda Straker

THE Spicemas Corporation (SMC) is among the list of growing entities which have taken measures to
protect their events and statutory bodies through the Trademark Act.

At the launch of Spicemas 2013, which was held on June 2, Arthur Hosten, Chairman of the SMC Board of Directors, said that intellectual property protection was one of the measures the Board will be undertaking as the intention is to use it as an income-revenue earner.

The Trademark Act provides for the legal registration of words or symbols to represent a company or product. Not only has the SMC trademarked its logo, but it has also trademarked a number of events, slogans and names of activities associated with Spicemas.

These include the words: Spicemas, Children Carnival Frolic, Bacchanal Friday, Pantastic Saturday, Monday Nite Mas, Majestic Thursday, Vieux Corps, Spice Island Bacchanal, Spice Island Carnival, 473 Carnival, Wata Soca, Jab Jab and Short Knee. They are all registered under Class 41 of the World Intellectual Property Nice Classification of Goods and Services, which covers entertainment, sporting and cultural activities.

The Nice Classification of Goods and Services is an agreement resulting from the Diplomatic Conference of 1957 in Nice, France, and is updated every five years. It is an authoritative classification of goods and services for use in registering trademarks and service marks. It is a list of 45 classes of goods and services, thousands of specific types of each class, and detailed descriptions of most of those. It is currently in use by Grenada and 147 other countries.

The protection means that permission must be sought from the Board of Spicemas Corporation if any promoter wants to use the words or the mark in promotions and other events.