EVENT: Unveiling of Proposed Law on Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions in Kenya

On Wednesday 8th May 2013, the Honourable Attorney General Prof. Githu Muigai will officiate the National Stakeholders’ Validation Seminar on the proposed legal framework on Protection of Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Traditional Culture Expressions (TCEs) at the Red Court Hotel, South C, Nairobi from 9:00am to 12:00noon. The legal framework aims to protect holders of … Continue reading »

How Laughter Works: XYZ Show, Parody and Intellectual Property Rights in Constitutional Kenya

“A society that takes itself too seriously risks bottling up its tensions and treating every example of irreverence as a threat to its existence. Humour is one of the great solvents of democracy. It permits the ambiguities and contradictions of public life to be articulated in non-violent forms. It promotes diversity. It enables a multitude … Continue reading »

Access to Medicines in the Developing World: No to Evergreening in Novartis Case and No to Patent Linkage in Patricia Asero Case

As part of the World IP Day 2013 activities in Kenya, CIPIT will host a special intellectual property (IP) debate organised by the Aids Law Project (ALP) between students drawn from the local universities. The topic of this debate is: how the Novartis and Patricia Asero court decisions affect public health in developing countries. Although … Continue reading »

World Intellectual Property Day – April 26 2013: Some Planned Activities in Kenya

Twelve years ago, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) created the “World Intellectual Property (IP) Day” as an event intended to “raise awareness of the role of intellectual property in our daily lives, and to celebrate the contribution made by innovators and creators to the development of societies across the globe”. Last year, this blog … Continue reading »

L’Oréal Acquires Nice & Lovely Trademark in Multi-Billion Shilling Deal

Media reports (here, here and here) indicate that the world’s largest multinational cosmetics company L’Oréal has acquired Kenya’s Interconsumer Products Ltd’s flagship Nice & Lovely brands, in a multi-million dollar acquisition reported this past week. L’Oréal opened shop in Nairobi in late 2011 and has for the past 18 months been in talks with Interconsumer … Continue reading »

Plant Breeders vs Farmers: SADC Draft Protocol for the Protection of New Plant Varieties

Plant Breeders rights became an accepted branch of intellectual property with the adoption of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) in 1961. The Convention protects the variety of the plant not the plant itself therefore the subject matter of protection is the variety and not the whole plant. A … Continue reading »

To Photocopy or Not to Photocopy: The Role of the Reproduction Rights Society in Kenya

One of the local newspapers recently published an article titled: “Can’t someone stop this photocopying madness?”, which raises the alarm over high levels of illegal photocopying especially in tertiary institutions of learning, namely our universities. The writer explains: We were taught in classes that photocopying a book without the requisite permission of the copyright holder … Continue reading »

Intellectual Property and Outdoor Advertising in Kenya

Businesses often spend much time and money to create a successful advertising campaign. It is important to protect your intellectual property (IP) assets, so that others do not unfairly copy or free-ride upon your innovative creations.” – Lien Verbauwhede, WIPO. Like in many parts of the world, the advertising sector in Kenya is the new … Continue reading »

QOTD: Corporate Authorship and Duration of Copyright in Kenya

Today’s Question of the Day (QOTD) is on the duration of copyright where the author of the copyright work is a juristic person. Authorship is at the core of copyright law. It determines ownership of copyright in the first instance. It provides a defence to alleged infringement. Most importantly, authorship determines the duration of copyright. … Continue reading »

State of Kenya’s Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement Regime

A study commissioned by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP) initiative reports that Kenya’s current intellectual property (IP) rights regime performs poorly in international gauges, ranking 95th of 130 countries in the IPR Index and 106th of 140 economies in the Global Competitiveness Index 2010. The BASCAP … Continue reading »