VTMBH Article: Body
When the news broke last Tuesday that Americans had secured a process patent for the steelpan, an instrument that originates in Trinidad & Tobago, the president of the United States Steel Band Association (USSA), Horace Morancie, said he did not rant and rave, he simply logged on to the Internet and read the patent. And now he sees legal action to reverse this decision as the road to travel.
We see it as something worth fighting for, said Morancie. Ive been in contact with Pan Trinbago as to whether they want to file a suit, he added.
Morancie said USSA will definitely take some kind of action. I read the plan off the net, it shouldnt be too much of a problem overturning that.
Morancie, who has been leading USSA for the past two years, spoke confidently during a conversation with Carib News Monday. He contends that the Whitmyre/Price patent, which is based on using a hydroform press, is not a new invention, because according to him, in the 70s Dr. Clement Imbert, Senior Lecturer at the University of West Indies at the St. Augustine campus in Trinidad, and Eugene McDavid had used the press to create the steelpan. But a patent was not secured mainly because of lack of financial resources said Morancie.
The Express has confirmed Morancies claims. McDavid told the regional newspaper: Bertie Marshall, Arnim Smith and myself actually carried out, commercial trials in Sweden. He also said: I still have one of the brass pans on which Bertie did the initial tuning.
A group of my colleagues documented the process and developed a feasibility study to use the process mentioned in the patent to manufacture the instrument and other related products.
Morancie said the legal advisor for USSA, Brian Figeroux of Figeroux & Associates in Brooklyn, New York, will in all probability head this case. However the grounds for the suit have not been determined. But one word comes to Morancies mindpiracy.
We see it as a form of piracy, he declared.
And some Caribbeans from Trinidad & Tobago and other countries are sharing similar feelings.
The Mighty Sparrow, world famous calypsonian, considers this to be an insult.
Guyanese professional Vernon Hazlewood, a one-time panist, calls it a "wake up call for Caribbeans.
Desmond Chase, the man who coined the Panorama, the annual competition for steel bands, says the Government of Trinidad & Tobago should take most of the responsibility for allowing Americans to secure a steelpan process patent.
This ought to be a lesson, Mr. Chase said. Had the government done the right thing we would not be in this situation.
One official at the Trinidad & Tobago Consulate in New York, who declined to disclose their name said: It conjures up all kinds of feelings.
One good thing it has alerted Government and it is not a good thing because someone else has come and won it (secured the patent). Its an ill will. It certainly got us (Trinidad and Tobago government) moving.
The Whitymyre/Price patent, which is named after Harvey J. Price, an educator at the University of Delaware and George Whitmyre of the Maryland, claim they did not want to steal the pan but manufacture it so that it could be environmentally safe and expediously produced.
Mr. Prices reaction to a possible suit:
Anyone is allowed to sue anybody for anything in America. Price went on to tell Carib News that he thought the suit was just ridiculous. Why would they want to do that? We really did an exhaustive amount of research.
Price also added that he and his partner, consultants and engineers labored for two years and that the securing the process patent was not easy.
The US government doesnt issue patents lightly, he said. We had to show no previous success was made by creating a pan with a hydroform press.
And if taking legal action does not work in favor of USSA, according to the patent guidelines of the United States Patent and Trademark Office any person can file a request for reexamination of a patent, along with the required fee, on the basis of prior art and consisting of patents or printed publications. At the conclusion of the reexamination proceedings, a certificate setting for the results of the reexamination proceeding is issued.
Therefore if USSA can provide a copy of a printed publication saying the engineers Imbert and McDavid had created steelpans when they claimed they did with the hydroform press, the Untied States Patent and Trademark Office can reexamine the Whitmyre/Price patent.
And if the reexamination process turns out in favor of the USSA it can be withdrawn. The government of Trinidad & Tobago has released a statement on the steel-pan issue via Minister of Legal Affairs, Camille Robinson-Regis recently, who said The government will, of course, pursue the validity of the patent granted to the US businessmen.
She said her Ministry has secured the granted patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office to ascertain whether the validity is an issue.
If during our research the patent claims processes that are well known to our panmakers, the Ministry, through the Intellectual Property Office, will advise Pan Trinbago of the process for an application for a possible revocation of the patent.
The Minister said patents have been challenged and revoked in the past. She also called on the patent fraternity to get involved. To realize the benefits of the patent system, the patent fraternity must begin to invest their time, money and effort not only in competitions, but also in the development of the infrastructure, she said. Attached to the ministers statement was information defining a patent.
We see it as something worth fighting for, said Morancie. Ive been in contact with Pan Trinbago as to whether they want to file a suit, he added.
Morancie said USSA will definitely take some kind of action. I read the plan off the net, it shouldnt be too much of a problem overturning that.
Morancie, who has been leading USSA for the past two years, spoke confidently during a conversation with Carib News Monday. He contends that the Whitmyre/Price patent, which is based on using a hydroform press, is not a new invention, because according to him, in the 70s Dr. Clement Imbert, Senior Lecturer at the University of West Indies at the St. Augustine campus in Trinidad, and Eugene McDavid had used the press to create the steelpan. But a patent was not secured mainly because of lack of financial resources said Morancie.
The Express has confirmed Morancies claims. McDavid told the regional newspaper: Bertie Marshall, Arnim Smith and myself actually carried out, commercial trials in Sweden. He also said: I still have one of the brass pans on which Bertie did the initial tuning.
A group of my colleagues documented the process and developed a feasibility study to use the process mentioned in the patent to manufacture the instrument and other related products.
Morancie said the legal advisor for USSA, Brian Figeroux of Figeroux & Associates in Brooklyn, New York, will in all probability head this case. However the grounds for the suit have not been determined. But one word comes to Morancies mindpiracy.
We see it as a form of piracy, he declared.
And some Caribbeans from Trinidad & Tobago and other countries are sharing similar feelings.
The Mighty Sparrow, world famous calypsonian, considers this to be an insult.
Guyanese professional Vernon Hazlewood, a one-time panist, calls it a "wake up call for Caribbeans.
Desmond Chase, the man who coined the Panorama, the annual competition for steel bands, says the Government of Trinidad & Tobago should take most of the responsibility for allowing Americans to secure a steelpan process patent.
This ought to be a lesson, Mr. Chase said. Had the government done the right thing we would not be in this situation.
One official at the Trinidad & Tobago Consulate in New York, who declined to disclose their name said: It conjures up all kinds of feelings.
One good thing it has alerted Government and it is not a good thing because someone else has come and won it (secured the patent). Its an ill will. It certainly got us (Trinidad and Tobago government) moving.
The Whitymyre/Price patent, which is named after Harvey J. Price, an educator at the University of Delaware and George Whitmyre of the Maryland, claim they did not want to steal the pan but manufacture it so that it could be environmentally safe and expediously produced.
Mr. Prices reaction to a possible suit:
Anyone is allowed to sue anybody for anything in America. Price went on to tell Carib News that he thought the suit was just ridiculous. Why would they want to do that? We really did an exhaustive amount of research.
Price also added that he and his partner, consultants and engineers labored for two years and that the securing the process patent was not easy.
The US government doesnt issue patents lightly, he said. We had to show no previous success was made by creating a pan with a hydroform press.
And if taking legal action does not work in favor of USSA, according to the patent guidelines of the United States Patent and Trademark Office any person can file a request for reexamination of a patent, along with the required fee, on the basis of prior art and consisting of patents or printed publications. At the conclusion of the reexamination proceedings, a certificate setting for the results of the reexamination proceeding is issued.
Therefore if USSA can provide a copy of a printed publication saying the engineers Imbert and McDavid had created steelpans when they claimed they did with the hydroform press, the Untied States Patent and Trademark Office can reexamine the Whitmyre/Price patent.
And if the reexamination process turns out in favor of the USSA it can be withdrawn. The government of Trinidad & Tobago has released a statement on the steel-pan issue via Minister of Legal Affairs, Camille Robinson-Regis recently, who said The government will, of course, pursue the validity of the patent granted to the US businessmen.
She said her Ministry has secured the granted patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office to ascertain whether the validity is an issue.
If during our research the patent claims processes that are well known to our panmakers, the Ministry, through the Intellectual Property Office, will advise Pan Trinbago of the process for an application for a possible revocation of the patent.
The Minister said patents have been challenged and revoked in the past. She also called on the patent fraternity to get involved. To realize the benefits of the patent system, the patent fraternity must begin to invest their time, money and effort not only in competitions, but also in the development of the infrastructure, she said. Attached to the ministers statement was information defining a patent.