Trinidad and Tobago officially recorded as pan's birthplace

IN what has been described as a massive intellectual-property win for this country, Tourism, Culture and the Arts Minister Randall Mitchell has announced that pan got Geographical Indication (GI) rights on August 9.

This establishes the country as the birthplace of the instrument, Pan Trinbago president Beverley Ramsey-Moore said yesterday, at the first World Steelpan Conference held at the Hyatt Regency, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain.

Mitchell made the announcement in front of an audience composed of pan enthusiasts and collaborators from as far away as Israel.

Ramsey-Moore said this makes up for the lack of patenting in the earlier days of the pan movement. However, the GI is locally registered and the TT Steelpan GI still has to be filed in other countries.

In a follow-up interview after the announcement, Pan Trinbago secretary Denise Hernandez said the geographical indicator was more significant than a patent, as it branded TT as the birthplace of pan. Hernandez is a member of the GI board.

“Somebody new to the world coming to say where was steelpan made? This GI brands it as the birthplace in TT,” she said.

Hernandez added people wanting to buy authentic manufactured pans and accessories would see a logo attached to these items.

This logo would tell potential buyers that the pan or accompanying accessories were made here.

“As was said, despite the manufacturing of steelpan around the world, the best-sounding tonal-quality pans are coming out of TT.”

When asked to respond to arguments over pan's not being patented, Ramsey-Moore said in the instrument’s early days it was not accepted.

“It was like a social outcast, even our panmen. So all this time we took discriminating, we would have lost the opportunity (to patent).

“But since the social acceptance of the steelpan, and I think that was since Dr Eric Williams called on sponsors to support the movement, then you saw the change gradually happening.

“While we wasted all that time, panmen went abroad, of course, and, given their skills, taught a lot of people to make the instrument, and they went way ahead while we were left behind.

“So whilst we are catching up quickly, things are happening.”

Addressing the possible economic spinoffs that would come with GI, Hernandez said countries not introduced to pan could now do so in theirs.

“The steelpan industry now has the opportunity to really blossom and be the next big economic money-earner for TT and all involved.”

University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) graduates from its bachelor of fine arts programme with a concentration on pan could now be sent to other countries as tutors, she added. Students could also learn to make steelpan accessories, which could result in foreign exchange for the country, she said.

Hernandez said a symbol for the GI has already been designed which was a composite design by all the stakeholders working on the GI application. She said it usually takes a week to two weeks to ensure there is nothing similar in the world, and when that is done, Pan Trinbago would be able to say this was the GI trademark to be used.

Mitchell said August 9 was a landmark day for all citizens and TT, particularly for pan manufacturers and tuners.

“Today, we have reached a major milestone in a journey that began in 2023, a journey towards the acquisition of intellectual property subsisting in our own steelpan,” he said.

This was something the country had been talking about for 30-40 years, he said.

“We even received advice in some quarters that this simply could not be done and today, it has been done and the intellectual property now resides with Pan Trinbago, the applicants.”

Mitchell said GI was indicated in the branding used on products that have a specific geographical origin and which possessed qualities derived from that origin.

The project began in June 2023. The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, the TT IP office under the Ministry of Attorney General and Legal Affairs, Pan Trinbago and manufacturers, producers and other stakeholders were all participants.

A GI committee will be established under Pan Trinbago’s remit to “implement, manage and steer the functions of the steelpan GI,” Mitchell said.

Its objective will include managing the usage of the protected GI, ensuring the development, modification, implementation of the TT span specifications and promoting TT pan as an indigenous cultural artform, he said.

“But what we have done is to offer a tremendous opportunity for all steelpan manufacturers and the fraternity to be a part of something bigger, something greater, to further enhance the reputation of our instrument through this national branding.

“Taking note from the success of countries like France with its champagne, Thailand with its Thai silk, scotch whisky and Swiss watches, we will further lift TT and our steelpan to higher heights…”

He said with proper management of the GI, TT could guarantee to the world and it would always remember, despite pan’s proliferation and its manufacture in many countries, “the very best steelpans, the Rolls Royce of steelpans, would always come from the republic of TT.”