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 »

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 »

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 »

Balamine Ouattara: New Regional Director for African Copyright Societies

CISAC, the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, works towards increased recognition and protection of creators’ rights. CISAC was founded in 1926 and is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation. Its headquarters are in Paris, with regional offices in Budapest, Santiago de Chile, Johannesburg and Singapore. CISAC now reports that Mr. Balamine Ouattara has joined … Continue reading »

Konza or Bust: Intellectual Property and Africa’s Silicon Savannah

A few weeks ago, the President Mwai Kibaki launched a KES 900 Billion ($14.5bn) project to build a new technology city: Konza, intended to be an IT business hub and dubbed “Africa’s Silicon Savannah”. Many may know that Konza is part of the government’s Vision 2030 initiative to improve much-neglected infrastructure over the next two … Continue reading »

Judge Erred on Intellectual Property in Faulu Kenya vs Safaricom M-Shwari Case

This blogger, in an earlier post, had expressed optimism and hope in Mr. Justice JB Havelock’s ability to preside over this high-stakes intellectual property (IP) case with clarity and wisdom. Recently this hope has been somewhat dashed by what can only be termed as a gross and unfortunate oversight by Judge JB Havelock in a … Continue reading »

Picture of the Day: WTO, WIPO, WHO on Intersections Between Public Health, Intellectual Property and Trade

Yesterday, the World Trade Organization (WTO), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and World Health Organization (WHO) jointly released a report on “Promoting Access to Medical Technologies and Innovation”. This report examines the interplay between public health, trade and intellectual property, and how these policy domains affect medical innovation and access to medical technologies. Read the … Continue reading »

Finally the SEACONET Model Copyright Law

IP Kenya has received news that the Southern and Eastern Africa Copyright Network (SEACONET) is in the final stages of unveiling the final version of the sample draft law which was adopted during the SEACONET August 2012 meeting in Malawi. Read the full story over at the CIPIT blog here. Continue reading »

Coming Soon: WIPO – KIPI Seminar on the Madrid System in December

This week’s Law Society of Kenya newsletter contains a notice that the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in collaboration with Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI) is organizing a series of one-day seminars in Kenya intended for business community, trade mark practitioners and representatives of the industrial sector. The objective of the seminars is to familiarize … Continue reading »

Law School Dean and IP Scholar Nominated to Kenya’s Court of Appeal

Kenyan media report indicate that Prof. James Otieno-Odek is among a list of 16 candidates nominated by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to serve in the Court of Appeal, Kenya’s second highest court in the land after the newly-constituted Supreme Court. It may be recalled that Prof. Odek had previously been shortlisted for the position … Continue reading »