From multinational Unilever's Sunlight soap, a household name in the island for decades, to the more recent, fashionable Odel clothing store, there were a growing number of cases concerning trade mark violations.
There was an average of 75-100 cases instituted each year in the commercial high court which handles all island trade mark cases with the complainants going for injunctions or seeking damages.
"There is inadequate awareness of the value and importance of protecting intellectual property rights (IPR)," Cabral told a meeting on IPR organised by the European Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka.
"There's a lot of value in intangible property, especially in new areas like software. Unfortunately in Sri Lanka there's not enough awareness of the value of intellectual property, even though intangible property can be more valuable than othe