Staff writer – Kerran Monroe
Finally, artists are waking up to the world of Intellectual Property and Trademark etc. Over the years organizations such the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office have tried to get the artists to get in the know about their Intellectual Property rights and to take action.
Well, all those television talk show appearances have not gone in vein, as at least one artist has paid heed and is now taking action. The artist from Sparta in Flanker, Montego Bay has trademarked his name, “Tommy Lee Sparta”.
According to the Star Newspaper, Tommy Lee thought it necessary to trademark his name, if in the future he desires to go into merchandising. “You haffi a look pon de future too. When the thing build certain way you waan make sure say a next man can’t come say him own mi name, and then mi can’t sell nothing wid mi name pon it.”
Tommy Lee Sparta. Photo courtesy dancehallreggaeworld.com
The idea according to Tommy Lee in the Star interview came from his Lawyer, given the society we live in today which is plagued by “fraud” and “impersonation”. “From day one, mi name so, a Sparta mi come from inna Flankers, so dats how mi get the name. Me get legal advice fi sort out mi name officially, yuh zeet. The whole heap a fraud and impersonation was like a wake-up call.” Tommy Lee said in his interview.
He also said that trademarking his name would set him apart from all the other Tommy Lees, such as, Men in Black actor, Tommy Lee jones and others.
This is the kind of thinking we need in the Jamaican music industry. We need stakeholders in the music industry to look at all the ways that they can benefit from all aspects of the industry. Also, artists need people like the people who encouraged Tommy Lee to make this move around them. So I say kudos to Tommy Lee and his team.
