Entertainment

PASSA PROBLEMS

THE NAME PASSA Passa seems to be causing some amount of 'passa passa' locally.

The controversy has come after the promoters of the weekly 'Passa Passa' event held on Spanish Town Road, Kingston say that other promoters have been advertising sessions using the same name.

Oneil Miles, representative of Swatch International and Miles Enterprises which hosts the weekly session, told THE STAR that they have recently decided to take action after seeing several dancehall shows being advertised using the same name along with the name of their resident sound system Swatch International.

They have already placed a legal notice in a newspaper tabloid, to warn of the "unauthorised use of the name and/or concept", and have taken steps to register the name 'Passa Passa'.

"The thing about it is that people are trying to piggyback on the name. They have advertised dances called 'Passa Passa' with the sound system named Swatch International, even when the sound system was not officially contacted," he explained.

Miles stated that he has seen at least two sessions being advertised at locations outside of Kingston with the name 'Passa Passa', even though they were not the promoters.

When he contacted the promoters of one of these events, he got a hostile response. "If any ugly incident takes place at one of these events, we may have to answer to it because of this."

For that reason he added, they have taken steps to register the name 'Passa Passa' as a trademark and business name. "The process was started last month, but it takes a while. We just got a certificate from the Registrar to show our intention."

With the name registered, anyone wishing to use the name will have to get their permission to use it. Miles however, stated that they will be flexible where this is concerned.

"If people come to us and want to use the name, we can give them. As long as they abide by our guidelines we have no problem with that...Right now there is a play by that name, and an Auto Parts place has a sale called 'Passa Passa' but that is no problem. The problem comes in where there is a dance, then there is a conflict of interest."