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Case 190 of 2007– David Weekes and IBIS America Corp vs The Caricom Secretariat and 3M

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The ongoing ‘feud’  between the Knight of St. Andrew and he who is primus inter pares on Mount Olympus has sparked a robust debate about the lack of leadership in Barbados at a time when the country should have high expectations given its investment in education. It is ironic to observe while two of the country’s leading lights are engaged in puerile exchanges a bright son of the soil continues to be frustrated by the ‘ system’, his recent ‘crime’; the Court Registry misplaced his file.

For six long years David Weekes has been forced to fight the system for justice and so far to no avail. We can debate whether his action has merit or not, what CANNOT be debated is that under our system of jurisprudence Mr. David Weekes is entitled to trust the system to give him his day in court if he feels so aggrieved.  This should be the inalienable right of a Barbadian under the system of democracy handed to us.

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In a nutshell IBIS Latin America Corporation with David Weekes as principal have set out to prove that a software developed by his company was used without license by the Caricom Secretariat. Since 2008 in order to progress his action against the Caricom Secretariat a request to the Attorney General of Barbados for the following documents have predictably been unsuccessful.

  1. A copy of the Instruments of Ratification which, in accordance with Article 232 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTOC), permitted  Barbados to enact the same CSME document and
  2. and a copy of the Bill, Act, Special Instrument or Law which, under the dualist system of Barbados, permitted the Protocol on Privileges and Immunities of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas to be enacted into the domestic Laws of Barbados

His latest foray against the system by requesting his case file be reconstructed by Registrar of the Court Barbara Cook-Alleyne promises to be protracted transaction. Sloth is a characteristic which has for a long time defined how business is done at the Court Registry.  For his sake we hope newly installed Registrar Barbara Cooke-Alleyne will give truth to what is the function of an efficient Registry – that it  is responsible for the secure custody and safekeeping of Court records; collecting and accounting for all fees received by the Court.

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36 responses to “Case 190 of 2007– David Weekes and IBIS America Corp vs The Caricom Secretariat and 3M”

  1. Case 190 of 2007– David Weekes and IBIS America Corp vs The Caricom Secretariat and 3M

    […] By David […]

  2. Gabriel Avatar
    Gabriel

    Would it be worth his while to have the IACHR look into this case?The man needs his day in court and he does not seem to be able to kick against the pricks all by his lonesome.This is another blot on the once good name of Barbados Justice.It seems the name of the game is join the long list with Murray Chandler.Chandler’s case has to be one for the Guinness Book of Records and he should write them too to enquire.

  3. Open Source Media Avatar
    Open Source Media

    Reblogged this on Open Source Media.

  4. David Weekes Avatar
    David Weekes

    @ Gabriel

    Thank you.

    I will review the IACHR process and submit a petition to them.

    Ironically Transparency International gives Barbados a rating of 17th out of 175 countries reviewed in 2014.

    I wonder what their indices were computed on?

    Do they evaluate Human Rights and the right to a speedy trial as is guaranteed by our country’s constitution?

    But then again some would say that, for a person to get a speedy trial in Barbados, you either have to be a poor man, in possession of a spliff, and be a man from our many gazas, if you are from our “heights” you get a free pass. or to be a Leper with friends in high places…

  5. David Weekes Avatar
    David Weekes

    @ Gabriel

    The way I figure this Gabriel is as follows.

    Suppose you can’t apply for a kettle on credit at Courts because your credit is that bad.

    Or suppose you found yourself battling your company debtors, who, even though there is a Central Bank Guarantee document as collateral, you found yourself on the verge of being locked up because “the *** Bank forgot to pay the premium for said central bank premium what would you do?

    What advice would you, if you were in this position, give a fellow who obviously has his reputation destroyed in the process?

    Should he be really concerned about the reputation of the government of Barbados in the eyes of the IACHR or other state actors across the world community or should he write this letter below, what do you think?

    “Your Excellency,

    My name is David Weekes and I am a citizen of the OAS Member State Barbados which I verily believe has, since 2009, until today, has violated, and continues to violate, my Human Rights contained in the American Declaration, the American Convention and several inter-American Human Rights Treaties of which the country is signatory (06/20/78) and has ratified (11/05/81) and has recognised the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court 904/04/2000).

    I verily believe that (i) through the actions of the Barbados State and its entities, (ii) by acquiescence of the Brbados State and its agents and (iii) through omissions of the Barbados State and its agents, I, and my 32 shareholders, have been, and continue to be, denied the right to speed trial as is afforded by these treaties and guaranteed under the Constitution of Barbados.

    I, David Weekes, as a claimant in the matter of suit against the Caricom Secretariat (affidavit attached herein) have been grievously treated with regards to securing a timely hearing of my matter in the Law Courts of Barbados as stated in CHAPTER III, PROTECTION OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS OF THE INDIVIDUAL Section 11 (b) and (c))

    My matter is simply one of “justice delayed being justice denied” and my situation is more precarious since it is now 8 years of unsuccessfully seeking to have my matter heard.

    I should mention that have been subjected to fire bombings at my home for vocalizing my matter publicly (see attached media article).

    Incredibly, while my counsel has unable to secure meetings with lawyers of the Defendant, their “lawyers of record” seem to be still in the Hague discussing the Maritime Boundaries of Barbados from 2009 (see attached letter)

    The said same lawyers have been able to secure court dates, AND, if the face of Central Bank Guarantees, bypass their inviolable protection afforded to company directors, and litigate successfully against me personally.

    Your Excellency, the travesty here is that, WHILE my substantive matter – case 190 of 2007, a file that the Barbados Courts claim to have lost for 6 years can’t get a day in court, as a director of the company seeking a court date, a company with government backed security in excess of the company’s indebtedness, I found myself being persecuted by the same lawyers, in the same courts, and almost incarcerated, for what is mine!!.

    This is a travesty at so many levels all ensuing from unjust and inhuman violations where, on the one hand there is a protracted denial of my right to speedy trial – a basic right of all citizens of Barbados, while said court effects unconstitutional recourse against me..

    In order to bring to an end to this flagrant violation of human rights, I ask that you intercede in this matter where a fully subscribed OAS Member State, Barbados, through its state agents, continues to place a number of obstacles, and unjustifiable delays, that stop my matter being granted speedy trial in a Barbados Court.

    Your excellency, I thank you for reviewing this request and affording me the opportunity to voice my matter of these violations of Human Rights by the Member State Barbados, with you.

    Sincerely,

    [Signature]

    What is your opinion about the letter above Gabriel?

  6. John Hanson 1781-1782- I SERVE 1788- 1792 BARBADOES. Avatar
    John Hanson 1781-1782- I SERVE 1788- 1792 BARBADOES.

    Sooner or later Barbados will have to shut down the hard way and start over with law and not just favor,

  7. David Avatar
    David

    @David

    For emphasis your should make the violation of one of the 23 articles I.e. the right to a fair trial the thesis of your submission. Also try to eliminate editorializing, consider deleting the fire bomb reference which is conjecture at this point.

    And give Registrar her 7 days to respond to your latest request as a courtesy.

  8. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    @ DAVID

    You really think any burden, at all, should be on David Weekes, after 6 years!

    That is the problems with you Bajans, regardless of what officialdom does, or does not do, you will find some reason to avoid the unavoidable. A nation of mentally depraved beggars!

  9. David Avatar
    David

    @Pacha

    No it should not be however one still had to go about trying to remove it if internal systems are failing.

  10. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    @ But David

    You have to properly locate this David Weekes tragedy in its proper context.

    It cannot be separated for the Barrack issue, which seems to be still active after more than 15 years.

    It cannot be separated from the recidivist, teeffing lawyers, who deny people justice routinely.

    It cannot be separated from the determination of the UN that Barbados has a system of institutional, crypto-racism.

    David Weekes should be making demands of the system not begging any so-and-so body to do their jobs.

    Weekes should explore bringing this matter to the attention of the international system as a victim of racism. For the shenanigans of willfully misplacing court documents and other environments structures, including a pervasive national slave mentality, will guarantee he will NEVER get justice in Barbados.

  11. David Avatar
    David

    @Pacha

    Have you not read the literature? What has Weekes been doing for the last 7/8 years?

  12. David Weekes Avatar
    David Weekes

    @ David Blogmaster

    The IACHR website format requires more detail and less “editorialized” content and as such I am only able to submit information for which I have supporting documentation e.g. letters from the Office of the Attorneys General (secured when Mia Mottley, Dale Marshal, our current PM The Hon. PM Freundel Stuart and Adriel Brathwaite were each AG.

    In fact, thankfully, the extensive email transmissions and receipts of interactions with CARICOM things like two advertisements for $10,000 each in local newspapers chronicling this travesty, the long list of requests to the four Registrars (and Acting Registrars) copies of Summons’ to Appear and consequent adjournments, copies of front page news articles in the Nation, Advocate, Gleaner and Barbados Authority, to name a few.

    Certified Email from the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office detailing the status of the (non) Entry into Force of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, email from the BBC requesting interviews should be adequate enough to convey the systematic effort to ensure that my matter was never given its day in court.

    The seminal point in matters where old pensioners confined to wheelchairs or persons who have relied on investments into approved assurance vehicles find themselves battling for what is one’s constitutional right is central to my matter and those of these other parties who so recently have featured here on BU (and a few who still feature here)

    If Barbados with all of our international credentials and transparency ratings finds itself, de facto, operating like a Cosa Nostra society where, irrespective of the openly stated rules and regulations that populate the official Barbados Investment and Development website, what obtains in practice is that, be you citizen or Foreign Development Investor, you can find yourself in a situation where, like me, you have no legal recourse.

    Many of you will correctly note that my matter has spanned TWO administrations and that begs the question what is Barbados becoming, rather what has Barbados become?

    I was recently in the United States and had to take 8 flights in 6 days and was subjected to the normal boarding ordeal of baggage checks etc.

    I have attached a link to a section of our G.O.D.I.S marketing toolbox created in 2003. This patented solution forms the crux of this court case against Caricom.

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByxccmpcGLmjVkFWeTBkczhBR2c/view?usp=sharing

    I “invented” this because (i) I grew tired filling out Entry and Departure forms (ii) in cramped aircraft seats, (iii) during, or prior to disembarking a plane (iv) in poor light when traveling at hight and (v) as a person with severe astigmatism.

    9/11 rolls around and I, in conjunction with the world renown reputable Relational DataBase Management firm, KPMG, reorient the product, first as a tourism tool followed by a variant for Homeland Security dumbed down for Cricket World Cup 2007.

    We show it to DHS in the United States and they agree to a pilot.

    We show it to our CARICOM brothers and sisters and they want…well we are suing them so you can guess what they wanted.

    The thing that those people who think of David Weekes as a trouble maker, “he who would seek to sue CARICOM”, what they don’t realize is what this patent represents to the world (even at 2015) and what it represented to the Government of the United States in 2003.

    You swipe your passport at the airport on an AA terminal, THAT IS my patent.

    You move from one point of the check-in procedure to the next point using your coded boarding pass, that is my patent.

    You buy duty free items in (US) airports using said boarding pass, instead of the timely archaic written forms, that is my patent.

    And all of my patent is worth in excess of US $10 BILLION DOLLARS!!

    Dont take my word for it visit http://news.cnet.com/Accenture-lands-Homeland-Security-deal/2100-1029_3-5223851.html

    US$ 10B a value which, when the financial projections of $125M in PY5 were shared with one of the very agencies set up to support Barbadian Innovation and Invention, said, authoratively, “their accountant had cooked the books. There is no way a Bajan company could generate that sort of money.”

    This is not about David Weekes. I will soon be dead and gone and like David Thompson, spoken of by friends/detractors for 5? years, remembered by some of your family, my daughter, for many more, but erased from the collective consciousness in one week after your death.

    That reminds me. My sister was Deputy Permanent Secretary of a particular ministry. She was a dedicated worker and when she was dying I called her Minister and asked him to come see her, to give her some encouragement.

    He says to me “Beverley Weekes, who is that!!” I guess that if she was a DPS and did not get a month of remembrance, I will be a wisp right after my obituary is read out on the radio.

    What we should be seeking to create, and nurture, in Barbados, is an environment where the many Bajan young men and women feel assured that the very agencies created to support them, the very government(s) that are there to assist them, do not become their enemies.

    I recently attended a meeting with some senior officials and one of whom said of me “it is not the product(s) it is the man”

    I took no offence at this comment, in fact it has given wings and has been a catalyst to my other initiatives that I am pursuing in other countries that are more receptive to my other 16 patents and patents pending.

    We Bajans need to sit back and seriously examine the culture that exists where (i) because a person has a dissenting opinion, irrespective of what they bring, we will destroy them (ii) a person carries a product/project to an agency tasked to assist such initiatives and finds that employees, even ministers take that idea and send it to friends and business associates for personal gain and (iii) the thousand of brighter sharper David Weekes’ who abound all over Barbados and just need a place which will give them the requisite skills and resources to change their lives and give them sustainable incomes.

  13. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    http://www.cit.uscourts.gov/index.html

    Last time we were near a case like this, it was directed here. Of course there are some assumptions, not knowing enough about this matter. For what it’s worth!

  14. Byron Avatar
    Byron

    I read somewhere that GODIS was/is US patented. In the US, the average time between filing the initial complaint alleging patent violation, and judgment in a jury trial, is somewhere between two (2) years and thirty-three (33) months, according to some observers. Notwithstanding expense (?), complexity (?) and so on, assuming issues of subject matter jurisdiction, venue, and personal jurisdiction over Mr. Weekes’ defendants, could be resolved, Mr. Weekes, clearly an intelligent man, might have been better served by urging his case before the appropriate U.S. District Court. Based on his representations, what does he have to lose?

  15. David Weekes Avatar
    David Weekes

    Ah Byron

    I wish I were a bright man like observers like you ha ha.

    A few things to note.

    (i) 340 requests later, to a myriad assortment of reputable (and not so reputable) US lawyers/firms boutique firms etc., and one arrived at a point where you have a bevy of firms who, at the time of the infringement, were understandably afraid of adverse fallout from the Patriot Act of 2003, and bringing a lawsuit on a patent for homeland security against the post 9/11 US government.

    You seem like a smart fellow who might have a little entrepreneurial insight in this corner of the woods, would it make sense for said US firms to offend Uncle Sam?

    I should mention that there was one firm that was a boutique firm (lawyers who had specialized in our niche specialty) who advertised that they took cases on contingency but after a few email backed away. A week afterwards they called and said that they had reviewed the omnibus patent submission and “had a client who was interested in buying the suite”. So you go from “no, we cant represent you to yes we want to buy your omnibus, in 7 days”

    Does that make money sense to you or is it a no brainer? I am sort of slow so I will listen to your thoughts on the matter

    (ii) Then there were firms whose fees were US$ 1M money which we did not have stashed away in for example an annuity with any local Insurance or Assurance company.

    (iii). Notwithstanding the complexity which you allude to this is quite simple really.

    G.O.D.I.S wanted the US Government as a client. Anyone with a little sence would want the US as a client. They had requested a pilot which, had our government and the collective governments of the Member States signed on to instead of ***, such would have provided us a contract with at least 250 million visitors a year entering the USA, generating US $1 per cross border record verification.

    In your opinion these years hence, would it have made sense to bite the very hand that offered us a pilot in New York, Miami and Puerto Rico ??

    (iv) At the time of the infringement one of the conditions of legal action against the US was based on there being a situation where elements of the patent were “traded” across the shores of the US.

    So for example, in the case of CLICO, if one annuity were to have been sold to an American across “state/federal lines” an action could potentially be brought against a party residing outside of the US, in US Courts.

    To establish such a premise, at that specific time, was not possible and, considering what is alleged in our affidavit against the two defendants, the US Government was not in the room at the time of the alleged infringement. (see previous BU article on that matter)

    There are a few other nuances which complexion this but they are for other venues to use your words.

  16. David Weekes Avatar
    David Weekes

    Oh and one other thing that you should know.

    At that time, Barbados had only one patent lawyer, Francis Depeiza who additionally is the only Bajan lawyer qualified and registered to practice patent law in the USA.

    Francis’ discipline in in BioChemistry which should shed further light on “niche specialty” requirement of our searches for legal representation because not every patent lawyer is versed in the discipline that G.O.D.I.S’ matter required so you see why we sent out 340 requests.

    In the entire region we have 5 patent lawyers!! which is an entirely different thing to a lawyer giving “an opinion” on a patent matter, much like your plumber giving you expert advice on your turbocharged Audi or the Porsche

  17. David Avatar
    David

    @DavidW

    Are you saying of the 800 or 900 lawyers we have only .5% of a lawyer specializes in patent law. All of the millions sunk in law studies? What does this say about Barbados positioning to be globally competitive?

  18. David Weekes Avatar
    David Weekes

    @ David the Blogmaster.

    Sadly to say, while our desire may be there for us to become a “player” in the IP space, the real fact of the matter is that we simply do not have the HR to support that thrust.

    “What is a term sheet?”

    A term sheet is a (bullet-point?) document outlining the material terms and conditions of a business agreement. After a term sheet has been “executed”, it guides legal counsel in the preparation of a proposed “final agreement”.

    When you are executing a term sheet for say a patent for a solar energy cell/battery it is often possible that certain aspects of your patent DO NOT BECOME ELEMENTS of the ensuing licensing agreement.

    I simple talk if i am Apple effecting a term sheet with Samsung, it is possible that I only license them the technology associated with the cell phone’s antenna BUT NOT the schema associated with my speakers.

    It is detailed and it takes a knowledgeable negotiator to know if they are throwing the baby away with the bath water.

    Barbados seeking to enter into the IP space in whatever area, yet not having these skills resident here, or creating a mechanism whereby such can be had, is a recipe for disaster.

    So while the talk shops and symposia promote all the Digital Jams etc., from the time all of our enthusiastic App Developers publish their products and fly all over the Caribbean proudly displaying their entire ideas, in return for a first price of $2,500 and a year of access to Github or some other place, they have sold their birthright five time over.

    So to answer your question, NO we aren’t at all prepared to be another Silicon Valley, or to be a Hub by 2020, that is a pipe-dream, given the current dearth of IP expertise”

    Can we get there, YEs in about 50 years we will have 5% of the HR capacity required and a budding ecosystem to support 2% of those 40 lawyers.

    So what do we do NOW?

    Get the US Department of Commerce (partially) underwrite a programme in conjunction with the Cave Hill Law Faculty for a purpose built course in IP.

    Under that structure the US will export and support 10 lawyers from 10 leading law firms with the expertise that we project forms the burgeoning sectors that WE ARE INTERESTED IN.

    the course will also solicit the support of 10 leading Law Universities in the USA and create a practicuum where US Students will spend a semester? in a tailored module here in Barbados

    Concurrently, those of our budding students will have the ability to subscribe to elements of the course in specific disciplines and a paid component will be available for practicing lawyers to subscribe to these modules as part of their continuing professional development.

    It is not rocket science really but then again the idea of a “satellite IP facility to bridge the dearth in HR skills is being proposed by David Weekes and you know that “he is suing CARICOM so that idea cannot see the light of day….”

  19. David Avatar
    David

    Thanks for the elderly elucidation DavidW, looks like something UWI, Cave Hill has the opportunity to lead.nit us the kind of leadership required to trul define niche for Barbados in a global market.

  20. Lee Avatar
    Lee

    David W you said above that the law firm moved in one wk from non-interest to an offer to buy your software and you have listed a chronology of your actions across the US corporate scape. What is missing from your case is a level of practicality and realism.

    You are cearly too informed and intelligent to see this as anymore than a night at the movies. You get a chance to show your side of life’s challenges but it changes nothing.

    A frank and unvarnished assessment would have seen this product sold to a major player or partnered with some company already. The fact that has not been done begs questions of business basics, product worthiness or a single mindedness of chasing a fool’s gold.

    No one man can fight the gov’ts of the Caribbean, scroll through various us law firms and also take on the us gov’t successfully. Either you die naturally, are dismissed or are silenced.

    At which point does rational behavior kick in.

  21. Byron Avatar
    Byron

    I am neither entrepreneur nor scholar, and have no interest in the matter EXCEPT that Mr. Weekes seems to have been stonewalled, and the victim of a nasty, searing and debilitating, “legalized” guerrilla warfare.

    Re any possible US District Court litigation by Weekes seeking redress for CARICOM’s alleged violation of his patent(s), again, what exactly does he have to lose?

    He has already lost/wasted almost eight (8) years pursuing the matter before the B’dos High Court, where the matter seems to have died a-borning. He, apparently, has nothing to show for it, if he is not worse off. He is also, arguably, even now, the victim of a continuing trespass. Insanity …. Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.

    The American Bar Association (ABA) indicates that there are a little fewer than 40,000 PATENT lawyers in the US in contrast with the one Barbados patent lawyer, Attorney Depeiza, admitted to practise patent law in the US. Surely, not all patent lawyers are created equal, but due diligence might possibly have identified an experienced, reputable PATENT lawyer, among the fewer than 40,000, to litigate his matter. The lawyer’s terms of representation, and his fees, are whatever they are. This brings me to:
    The US lawyer(s) Mr. Weekes contacted, who declined to represent him, then offered to buy his patent raised an ethical matter. Weekes might
    properly have considered filing a grievance against said lawyer(s), and, if
    successful, pursued the matter further.
    As to Homeland Security, I believe the gravamen of Mr. Weekes’ claims were directed against CARICOM for violating his patent. I am
    unaware as to any claims or causes of action he may have alleged against the
    Dept of Homeland Security (DHS). I simply don’t know. Also, while lawsuits are routinely filed against DHS, it may well be that, if anything, DHS
    representatives might be better used as material witnesses in support of his
    case in chief against CARICOM.
    For what it is worth, US Governments have often professed theit concern for infringement of US Patents and intellectual property. In light of his experience with the local courts and CARICOM, Mr. Weekes might well have formally requested the US Government, through its local Ambassador, to intervene, given his well documented travails, and failure to be heard, before the local courts.
    Are there international organizations, e.g WIPO, dealing specifically with patents such as Weekes’s? Perhaps, B’dos may be a signatory —
    Weekes alleges $10bn in damages. Rule everywhere: “Damages must not be speculative”. Hopefully, he has a serious economics expert to document and support his claim for damages.

    He, Weekes, was, at a minimum, entitled to have his matter heard in a timely manner, as BU stated.

  22. Dee Ingrunt Word Avatar
    Dee Ingrunt Word

    David, you make an intriguing point re ” we have only .5% of a lawyer specializes in patent law.. What does this say about Barbados positioning to be globally competitive?”

    It says lawyers follow specializations where they will make most business (money).

    Mr. Weekes encountered one patent lawyer locally but the question that would help the debate is how many patent requests did this attorney handle in the year prior to David W?

    I am sure there are other folks in Bdos who have developed concepts and products for which patents were desired but is it so many that one attorney here could not handle or where the patent holder could not seek legal guidance from an attorney in another island (T&T or Jam) or in US.

  23. David Weekes Avatar
    David Weekes

    @ All

    People should not for one minute believe that, after all these years, we have not learnt from this exercise OR are doing the same thing we did 8 years ago.

    We are not in the mode of “doing the same thing, over and over again, and expecting different results”

    A careful read of this article will see that my submission has two thrusts.

    In the first vein, both I, and my 32 shareholders, are “victims” of the obvious stonewalling by Caribbean governments and seem to be held down by the institutionalised subversion, but I would caution you, everything is not as it appears to seem.

    In the second vein, as you read this matter closer, it becomes evident that we would wish for you to see the real-life pitfalls that exists and colour this Innovation and Invention spectrum, and which “the uninitiated” can, and will, find themselves snared in, as they seek to go down their own version of “economic empowerment through Intellectual Property”

    When you John Public start playing in “big boy pools” and you need to get smart real quick, the cover that you may falsely believe that your own government, one which has invested $250K in your patents, quickly disappears when some faction in that same government sees the economic value of their investment and “wants all”

    Learn from us what the actualities are

  24. David Weekes Avatar
    David Weekes

    @ De Ingrunt Word

    When you are seeking IP counsel the process of “due diligence” comes into play as in a two way street.

    The potential lawyer in assessing your attempt to patent a technology carries you a series of procedures after asking you point blank (i) if what you are thinking of patenting is yours (ii) have you collaborated with anyone during its conceptualization (do you own it or more correctly is it sole authorship) and (iii) have you published it for over a year prior to the time you are speaking with him/her or have you received money (reduced to practice which invalidates the claim)

    Contrary to popular opinion in those 40,000 patent lawyers in the US of A the same way we have pretend mechanics, doctors and contractors, they have the same issues.

    The process of finding and then engaging the lawyers Finnegan Farragut took 9 months and up to the time of the initial meeting, they were never given any materials on the patents.

    Even if you plan to go within CARICOM that process DOES NOT CHANGE.

    You need to research and review what these lawyers have done AND you have to review any and all litigation pending concerning litigants suing them!!

    In the US of A such records exist and in a country with a mature Freedom of Information regime, and a Better Business Bureau it is easy to see who is the best of the bunch and who like Francis was quick to advise, has the specific niche skill to effect your patent.

    You do not go to your mechanic for open heart surgery.

  25. David Weekes Avatar
    David Weekes

    @ Lee

    I will use your quote “A frank and unvarnished assessment would have seen this product sold to a major player or partnered with some company already.” to put a context on this timeline you are viewing with what you believe to be “20/20 hindsight”

    It may not be evident from this brief article that there was a method to the madness of the offering

    In brief it was (i) patent idea (ii) find credible local partner who would deflate the existing real life issue that “Barbados is in Jamaica” and all wunna 3rd world people can bring us 1st world countries is ganja ergo our collaboration with KPMG, (get the buy in of our regional governments ergo the CARICOM and Regional Task Force on Crime and Security endorsements (iv) find a client whose coffers could afford the solution. the product was info on travellers, such is either for Customs and Immigration agencies or tourism players ergo the approach to the DHS.

    The fact remains that DHS did buy in. that would seem to suggest that the model adopted worked.

    When it fowled up the fact that an offer was made would suggest that it was still of import to players in the market.

    But here is the salient point that your thought DOES NOT address.

    The product/patent was an omnibus submission, 11 items in one submission, so when an offer comes for US125K for 11 patents one of which is a tsunami damper would it make sense to cash in at a value that was below the shareholders investments?

    Like I said hindsight is 20/20

  26. David Weekes Avatar
    David Weekes

    @ Byron

    I could write a dissertation in response to each of your submission’s various elements.

    In the interest of time, I wont do that but will provide the now infamous MOU effected between CARICOM and the Government of the United States of America

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByxccmpcGLmjMVBLOGhzZ2Q0dGc/view?usp=sharing

    Now before I go any further i present the word “wants” – the noun meaning “desire for something”

    G.O.D.I.S wants (wanted) a client who could afford our technology ergo the US

    CARICOM wants/wanted and still wants, a cross border solution to address its CWC2007 imperatives and possibly, given what many call “terminally empty coffers”, someone to fund that “want”

    The Government of the USA is in perpetual mode of safeguarding US interests and citizens always wanting technology to protect its shores, as any sovereign government would want.

    Cricket potentially brought Pakistanis, Indian citizens, and possibly other militant undesirables to their backyard and the US of A would have wanted to safeguard against that

    So G.O.D.I.S seeks DHS as a client and returns to CARICOM with a ready baked chicken and the rest of this “fattening cockroach for fowl story” is David Weekes/Caricom lawsuit history.

    While the US of A can be accused of many things, one thing that you can be sure of, it will guard its shores zealously against all enemies, domestic and foreign,

    So among several other benefits of which my patent features centrally a few benefits accrue to (some of the member states for example the Joint Regional Communications Centre (JRCC) is born

    And all this from the efforts of the paranoid Weekes fellow who is suing CARICOM

    As a response to your incorrect comment about “Weekes alleges $10bn in damages” I did not say that, nor impute it.

    What I said was (i) we submitted a proposal for funding to and entity that supposedly was/os responsible for financing Innovation and Invention and our projections of $125M were considered the fanciful imaginations of our accountant and the not mamby pamby skilled insights of KPMG Barbados.

    History has shown that the proposed solution generated $10 Billion dollars for Accenture over 15 years

    Two I set that remark in the context of a local innovative concept being of world class quality to generate that level of revenue especially since the said CARICOM partner we were courting mow on a wages freeze.

    Thirdly, This is not about David Weekes, Byron.

    This is about the practical application of “I pledge Allegiance to my Country Barbados and to my flag to Uphold and Defend its Honour and by My Living to do Credit to My Nation, WHEREVER I might go”

    Unlike many of us who pontificate on these things, whether here on BU or at the SpeechDays of our various schools, mine is a lifelong commitment of making a difference before I lay this frail shape down and die.

    For me, Innovation and Invention is not about pipe dreams, that impress one minister of one government or the other, it never was and never will be.

    I have 17 patents/patents pending, and contrary to the sentiments expressed, I have not sat idly by for 8 years, only seeking redress from this one once and still lucrative initiative, it takes time to present your credentials to people in “first world countries” and have your bonafides pass examination for serious investment.

    I continue to move along life’s path, wiser now because of this Caricom facade.

  27. David Weekes Avatar
    David Weekes

    Correction As a response to your incorrect comment about “Weekes alleges $10bn in damages” I did not say that, nor can it be imputed from what I said.

  28. Byron Avatar
    Byron

    @ DW: Correction appreciated, but Point stands! Rule: damages must not be speculative (whatever damages there are)!

  29. David Weekes Avatar
    David Weekes

    @ Byron

    Well then maybe the $125M as per 125 million visitors at $1 per record multiplied by 8 (years of waiting) might be a starting point for a judge.

    I cant multiply too good but given your industry and area of employ I am sure that you can do a thing with the numbers and their respective decimal points all thanks to mathematics teachers at *** LOL

  30. David Weekes Avatar
    David Weekes

    Why do patent owners go to all lengths to fight to protect their Intellectual property in a court of Law?

    Because their competitors go to such lengths to steal their Intellectual Property

    In June 2000, Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison said it was doing its “civic duty” by hiring a detective agency to investigate groups that supported Microsoft.

    Oracle employed Investigative Group International to look into actions by two research organizations, the Independent Institute and the National Taxpayers Union, that were releasing studies supportive of Microsoft.

    Oracle said it sought evidence that the groups were receiving financial support from Microsoft during its antitrust trial.

    Oracle admitted ties to Investigative Group after news reports said the detective agency had TRIED TO BUY TRASH FROM TWO CLEANING WOMEN at the Association for Competitive Technology, a research group that Microsoft backed.

    But do remember that this is that fellow Weekes suing CARICOM, the bona fide representative and bastion of regional interests.

    What Weekes is suing for is “of no monetary worth” why after all, in the words of *** the Director of a leading Caribbean fund for Innovation “what part of the United States of America did that technology come from?”

    “All Weekes is doing is embarrassing CARICOM, suppose just suppose that he was to win a case against them for disclosing his IP to third parties” a quote from a regional newspaper article

    Surely “these fields and hills beyond recall are now are very own…”

  31. David Weekes Avatar
    David Weekes

    I spoke to two shareholders during the past week, one I spoke to one the phone, the other on the streets in Speightstown.

    Apparently they had read this article on BU and the female caller was pleased that “I had not given up”

    I asked her to explain why I should “give up” especially when she considered the amount of monies that the 32 of our shareholders had invested.

    The other one, a man, asked me why my articles (in newspapers or on this site) always seemed so “adversarial” and if I was not aware that “you can attract more flies, with honey”

    I responded by asking him “how, given the systematic and incessant efforts of the Barbados Law Courts and the Office of the Attorney General, to frustrate our access, and right, to “due process”, how with the Courts having lost the file 190 of 2007, how did he think that I could “non-adversarily” get our case in court?”

    Then I said “maybe I should stop being “adversarial” and let his money just go down the drain”. The look on his face was priceless, all the blood drained out of it. I thought he was going to faint in Speightstown.

    BIG COMPANIES ALSO STEAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.

    In 1997, an engineer who worked with Gillette to help develop its next generation shaver system disclosed confidential information to the company’s competitors.

    Steven Louis Davis, an employee at Wright Industries Inc., a designer of fabrication equipment that was hired by Gillette, faxed or e-mailed drawings of the new razor design to Warner-Lambert, Bic, and American Safety Razor.

    Davis pled guilty to theft of trade secrets and wire fraud and was sentenced to 27 months in prison.

    He told the court he stole the information out of anger at his supervisor and fear for his job.

    In America, and other places in the civilized world, this type of appropriation of one’s intellectual property is called “corporate espionage”

    Just ask yourself this question, IS OUR REGION”S TRUSTED BROKER BEYOND SUCH?

    Why cant I, a poor boy from Bush Hall, have my day in court?

    Why is this right, guaranteed under the Constitution of Barbados, being denied me for EIGHT YEARS?

    Why cant I get a trial date to defend MY PROPERTY?

    Why am I called a troublemaker for protecting what was mine? Have I brought “shame and disrepute on CARICOM”?

    Answer me this, you are a claimant seeking payment for what is yours (for what a commentator on the internet called “tiefiing through immunity”) do you think it is fair to get labelled a “troublemaker”?

  32. David Weekes Avatar
    David Weekes

    WHY OUR COUNTRY WILL NEVER BECOME A SINGAPORE

    We simply DO NOT UNDERSTAND what Intellectual Property is!!

    In 1993, General Motors accused Volkswagen of industrial espionage after Jose Ignacio Lopez, the chief of production for GM’s Opel division, left to join the rival German automaker, along with seven other executives.

    GM claimed its corporate secrets were used at VW. In the end, the companies agreed to one of the largest settlements of its kind: GM would drop its lawsuits in exchange for VW’s pledge to buy $1 billion of GM parts over seven years.

    In addition, VW was to pay GM $100 million.

    We not only dont understand what IP is but the fact is that WE DONT NOT HAVE PEOPLE at the level of decision making who understand how to mobilize and leverage these “intangibles” in a manner whereby we create a “IP portfolio of sustainable sources” that can generate significant $$ for the country.

    I have long ago disavowed myself of any notion that “there aren’t really bright Bajans who have the next “Google-like” invention on our 11×14 or 144 sq. ml. island”.

    Unfortunately, having seen the problem that they face, I have simultaneously disavowed myself of the notion that “we have the matrix within which such talent can be nurtured to realize anything meaningful” with the current cadre of visionaries who lead the Innovation thrust on our Island.

    We don’t have what it takes, at key impact nodes, (and possibly never did). We are content to continue as we are, incredibly hoping that “the correct environment will auto-combust” into being, like the garbage dump at Mangrove.

    History reflects that countries, in preparation for war, stockpile the tools of combat, bullets, bombes, tanks, transport vehicles, amphibious landing craft, aircraft carriers and trains marines and appoints New Military Leadership.

    Yet, in this economic climate, with a volatile tourism market, one which at the drop of an aircraft, or four as in 9/11, or the meltdown of financial markets, shrinks our tourist arrivals coupled with contracting “preferential prices for our sugar crop, one might think that we would be aggressively appointing HR in that area who can deliver Singaporean output instead of choosing politically correct appointees who only know how to parrot Lee Quan Yu remarks/quotes.

    Our country needs visionaries who can deliver, our country cant afford the guess work and learning on the job that these political appointees, in these critical organisations are delivering.

    When the US President appointed Generals Dunford and Selva it was not because Joe and paul are good drinking buddies or his children’s godfathers. He wanted seasoned warriors for the course and while time has shown that some appointees will sometimes have to get fired, the thing is that the men and women know what a gun is and dont have to get a crash course on which end the bullet comes from.

    Innovation & bespoke Industrialization Initiatives can’t be left to guess work.

    Innovation relies on the protection afforded by Patents and talk what you will, this court case is embedded in an USPTO patent and we encourage the Barbados Law Courts to rise to the occasion.

  33. David Weekes Avatar
    David Weekes

    I saw your article about the shortage of supplies at the Barbados Courts and am inclined to believe that you are right Blogmaster

    I hope that you are not suggesting that things at the Court are so bad that they are now recycling paper?

    Both my shareholders and I can now better appreciate why the Barbados Court has been unable to find file 190 of 2007 my lawsuit against CARICOM for our purported appropriation of our patented property

    The file has been recirculated for the use of judges to write on in current matters!!

    It makes sound sense Blogmaster. When you don’t have horse you ride cow.

    I do hope that the shortage of supplies does not extend to toilet paper because you do know that a paper cut from inked paper, in your nether regions, could have fatal consequences.

    Imagine the headlines in the newspapers!

    “Justice So and So was admitted to QEH after suffering an injury to his “donkey” from case 190 of 2007!”

    “The Office of The Attorney General in reviewing the matter to see if criminal charges can be brought against the Claimants since it was the very page in the pleadings where there names were located that caused the serious injury.”

    “The Chief of Police could not be reached for comments but a source close to the Commissioner said that he was “examining the evidence very closely, while wearing gloves”.

    The source also shared that “the Chief Officer, prior to using the gloves, had touched the evidence and had exclaimed that “this case is a lot of “

  34. David Avatar
    David

    @DavidW

    Very funny if it were not so serious!

  35. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    My God…

  36. Easy squeeze (make no riot) Avatar
    Easy squeeze (make no riot)

    I’m no Freemason or Gangster… but you could sue the Court

    Funs and Games, Motion Dub
    http://youtu.be/Dxt2He1s90A

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