IPCA Essay Competition Winners for 2023

This year IPCA hosted its 6th Essay Competition aimed at law students, articled clerks, trainee lawyers and newly qualified lawyers residing in the Caribbean (including any country bordering the Caribbean Sea).

Participants were invited to write an essay on the following topic: Assess the role of Geographical Indications as a pathway to development and sustainability in the Caribbean in general, or in your specific Caribbean territory.

Awards were USD 2000 for the winner, Dareem Scipio, and USD 1000 for the runner-up, Ignacio Retana Solano.

The competition endeavours to keep inspiring and attracting attention in the field of Intellectual Property law and to assist with IPCA’s goal of promoting IP rights in the Caribbean.

Winner – Dareem Scipio

Dareem Scipio is a final year law student at the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad & Tobago. Dareem developed a passion for Intellectual Property while reading for his LL.B degree at the University of the West Indies. St. Augustine. He has since contributed numerous articles on various IP topics and issues to IP ArchIPelago a blog started by the Faculty of Law at the same university. He credits his passion towards intellectual property to his tutor, Dr. Justin Koo who has been a great source of inspiration.

Outside the classroom, Dareem has participated in several activities. He was the Constitutional Chairperson of the UWI Law Society Executive (2021-2022) and formed part of the Faculty’s Mooting team for the Price Media International Mooting Competition. He is also currently one of the Assistant Returning Officers on the HWLS Student Council. He draws inspiration from the latin phrase “linque legatum” which simply means to leave a legacy.

Click here to read his essay.

1st Runner-up – Ignacio Retana Solano

Currently a law student at the Universidad Escuela Libre de Derecho in Costa Rica, 24 year old Ignacio Retana Solano also works as a paralegal in a law firm.

Previously Ignacio worked in corporate law and Intellectual and Industrial Property, mainly focusing on trademarks. Now, he is working in the field of Real Estate Law. He is also interested to learn about tax law and subjects related to business law.

With a passion for learning new things related to law and politics, Ignacio has a keen interest in Costa Rican and world history.

Click here to read his essay. Click here to read the Spanish version of this essay.