The Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO) will be giving priority to legislative amendments during 2012/13, as it strives to improve its ability to protect the intellectual property rights of Jamaican creators, inventors and authors. “We really would love to see the passage of our patents and designs Bill. It has been just a Bill for some time now, and we would love to see it go before Parliament,” Executive Director of JIPO, Carol Simpson, told JIS News. Mrs. Simpson ...

Usain Bolt confirmed he will run his first 100m race of the 2012 season at the JN Jamaica Invitational, an IAAF World Challenge Meeting on 5 May at National Stadium in Kingston. Since the 100 and 200m World record holder and Olympic champion was announced for the meet almost a month ago, speculation was high as to which event he would run, though it was clear that he would not face Yohan Blake, the 100m World champion. Now that Bolt has confirmed his place in the 100m, he is likely ...

Jamaica once again underlined its dominance of regional track and field, emphatically topping the competition at the 41st Carifta Games, which came to a close at the National Sports Centre in Bermuda yesterday. The Jamaicans ended the championships with a massive 77 medals – 34 gold, 24 silver and 19 bronze medals – with The Bahamas running second best with 38 medals (13 gold, 13 silver, 12 bronze) and Trinidad and Tobago’s 24 medals (eight gold, nine silver, ...

Finally! Edwin Allen threw the 800-lb gorilla off their back after close misses in the last two years to finally crown themselves queens of Jamaica’s high school track and field after a brilliant and almost flawless display over five days, ending with their coronation at the National Stadium last night as the 102nd ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Championships came to a close. Meanwhile, Calabar captured their 23rd lien on the Mortimer Geddes Trophy for Boys ...

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Bolt ran a record 9.69 in the 100 m, even while slowing down at the finish. In the 2009 Worlds, he clocked a 9.58 — another 100-m record. What does the world’s fastest man have in store for the London Olympics? Fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake, who won the 100 m at the 2011 Worlds after Bolt was disqualified because of a false start, has emerged as a worthy rival. Still, as long as Bolt is lined up, he’ll always be the man to beat. Vote ...

Claudia Hammond reports from the sprint capital of the world, Jamaica, for the second of four special Health Check programmes on the lifecycle of an athlete. In “From Promise to the Podium”, she investigates how this tiny island, of fewer than three million people, so consistently turns out world class track athletes. At the first race meet of the season, at the National Stadium in Kingston, she watches hundreds of school children from the country’s high schools ...

At least four Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries are to benefit from US$600 million in financing for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in Central America and the Caribbean over the next five years. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) says the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will also contribute funds towards the projects. The framework agreement was signed during the IDB’s annual meeting on Friday between IDB president Luis Albert Moreno ...

Grandson of The Queen, His Royal Highness, Prince Henry of Wales (always known as Prince Harry), will visit Jamaica from March 5 to 8 on behalf of The Queen. The four-day visit is in commemoration of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee – her 60th year since accession. Prince Harry’s visit to Jamaica is the final stop in his visits to Commonwealth countries in the Caribbean. The other two stops will be in Belize followed by The Bahamas. This is the first time that Prince Harry will ...