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Promoting Caribbean Animation
Maritza Aguilar Export Promotion Of?cer Belize Trade and Investment Development Service (BELTRAIDE) One of the sectors that have shown tremendous growth and potential within the creative industries is animation. According to the 2011 Global Animation Industry Report, the animation market is a multi-billion dollar industry that is growing globally at a rate of 12% per annum, with an estimated worth of US$115 billion. With the demand for animated content steadily on the rise, animation is considered one of the most rapidly growing creative endeavors of technological development in today’s global economy. The vast potential of animation has not gone unnoticed in the Caribbean, although still in its infancy, the industry has seen substantial investment from regional governments and entrepreneurs. The growth of the sector in the Caribbean has largely been attributed through the initiatives of Toon Boom Animation Corporation, the world’s leading animation software company (Aguilar, 2011). Toon Boom is of the belief that the success of the development of the animation industry in countries such as India and China, can be emulated here in the Caribbean and that the region has the potential to become the next “outsource hub” for animated content (Aguilar, 2011). In the Caribbean, countries such as Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Guyana & Jamaica in particular, have recognized the value of animation. Barbados has recently launched the Caribbean Digital Media Center through and with the support of Toon Boom, marking a milestone in the continued development and expansion of the animation industry in the Caribbean (Aguilar, 2011). Trinidad and Tobago, the region’s leader in animation production, is positioning itself to become a prime outsource destination(Invest TT, 2011). The Government of Trinidad and Tobago has recently invested in training over 400 persons in animation, primarily in preproduction and production animation services(Invest TT, 2011). Guyana and Jamaica also have Toon Boom equipped animation studios, with others planned in St. Vincent and St. Lucia. The expansion is expected to create approximately 3000 – 5000 new jobs in the Caribbean over the next few years. Arguably, there has certainly been a considerable amount of investment in developing the Caribbean’s animation industry in recent years. One element that has been notably absent however, from these efforts, is the creation of an Intellectual Property (“IP”) regulatory framework. IP is critical to the development of animated content, yet, there has been little progress in improving the Caribbean’s IP regime. This article therefore, wishes to highlight the importance of IP in the animation industry by looking at how animated content is protected and the role& value of IP rights.
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How is animation protected? The appreciation of the role of IP in the animation industry ?rst comes from an understanding of how animation can be protected. The entire process of animation production, from inception to completion, encompasses intellectual property rights. The success of any producer of animation is highly dependent on the existence and maintenance of those rights. Using the United States IP legislation as a point of reference, the chart below demonstrates the ways in which animated content can be protected.
Understanding the value of IP rights Once intellectual property protection has been secured, the question remains as to what can be done with that IP. The value of IP rights to an animation producer can be summarized in three key points:
Volume 4: July - September 2012
www.creativeindustriesexchange.com
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