Founder

PROFILE OF THE FOUNDER OF THE FIRM
Kirthisiri Jayasinghe (1932-2018)
Former Registrar of Patents and Trade Marks of Sri Lanka.

Mr. Kirthisiri Jayasinghe established this firm in the year 1993 on his retirement as Sri Lanka’s first Registrar of Patents and Trademarks. Mr. Jayasinghe, an Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka is now in his 54th year of practice of his profession, 25 years of which he served in Sri Lanka’s Intellectual Property Office. He is a member of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka and of the European Lawyers Association.
In 1991 the United Nations specialized agency, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) awarded him a Gold Medal in appreciation of the impetus he had given to the drive for the protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Sri Lanka.

Mr. Jayasinghe, during his tenure of office as Registrar of Patent and Trademarks of Sri Lanka, in addition to the administration and management of Intellectual Property in this country has largely contributed to the promotion and protection of Inventive Activity in Sri Lanka and to international cooperation in the field of Industrial Property. He was also a member of the Committee which drafted Sri Lanka’s Code of Intellectual Property Act in 1979 and undertook its administration under a newly formed Department as Sri Lanka’s first Registrar of Patents & Trademarks.

In the field of International Cooperation, Mr. Jayasinghe was responsible for the organization of the WIPO World Patent Symposium in Colombo in 1977 and the World Trademark Symposium in 1982 also in Colombo. He was also responsible for the organization of the annual WIPO Regional Training Course in Intellectual Property in Colombo for countries of Asia and the Pacific for eight consecutive years.

Mr. Jayasinghe also led the 1986 joint UNDP-WIPO Evaluation and Needs Assessment Mission on straightening and making effective use of the Intellectual Property System in the developing counties in Asia and the Pacific. The recommendations of this Mission were implemented in the Region for a period of five years.
Mr. Jayasinghe has represented Sri Lanka at many International Conferences on the subject of Intellectual Property, including those held under the auspices of the United Nations in Manila, Geneva, Bangkok, New Delhi, Seoul, Tokyo, Stockholm, Dhaka & Colombo. In 1989 Mr. Jayasinghe represented Sri Lanka at a Diplomatic Conference in Washington for the conclusion of an International Treaty for the Protection of Integrated Circuits and in 1991 at the Diplomatic Conference at the Hague attended by 92 countries for the drafting of a Treaty Harmonizing the Patent laws of the World.