International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations and Jamaican Copyright Licensing Agency

Press management also attended the annual general meeting of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO) in Montego Bay, Jamaica, as the designated Jamaican publishing delegate and also supported the Jamaican Copyright Licensing Agency (JAMCOPY) tenth-anniversary reception and book display at the annual general meeting of IFRRO. More than 173 delegates from 43 countries attended IFRRO and UWI Press was an active participant. IFRRO meetings were also held to support the Caribbean Projects Initiative and the development of a regional licensing agency as well as supporting the continued development of licensing agencies in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. It is only through active support of these licensing agencies that illegal photocopying in the region will decline and revenues to rights holders, authors and publishers will improve.

Over the last decade the University of the West Indies Press has been a staunch supporter and founding member of the Jamaican Copyright
Licensing Agency (JAMCOPY). In related news concerning the maturation of an indigenous publishing and book industry, JAMCOPY, an IFRRO member, signed a licensing agreement with the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies, the University of Technology and the Northern Caribbean University: “After almost three years of negotiations, the island’s three major universities are now in conformity with Jamaican copyright law and international best practice. With licences in place, the universities can now legitimately make copies of larger portions of works within the parameters agreed with JAMCOPY. Shirley Carby, JAMCOPY’s chairwoman, pointed out that the signing of the university licences sends a positive signal to the world of Jamaica’s growing respect for intellectual property rights” (JAMCOPY news release, July 2008). The licensing agreement will directly benefit UWI Press and its authors with annual monetary payments, an important source of revenue enhancement.