#ipkenya Weekly Dozen: 10/08

• Kenya Guns for Top ICT Positions in Africa and Globally [Official]
• Strengthening Africa’s audiovisual sector: market intelligence is critical [WIPO Magazine]
• Technology transfer to transform agricultural production in Africa [African Development Bank]
• A decision-making tool for countries to implement the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit Sharing [Biodiversity International]
• ‘My President is a Pair of Buttocks’: the limits of online freedom of expression in Uganda [Oxford]
• Parallel imports remain a grey area for IP rights in East Africa [Captain Obvious]
• Trademark Infringement in Nigeria: What is ‘Use in the Course of Trade’? [Afro-IP]
• In case you missed it: You can now register copyright online in Kenya [KECOBO]
• Industrial Property Act Comes Into Effect [Namibia Economist]
• Scotch Whisky Association awarded a certification trademark in South Africa [the drinks business]
• Ethiopia becoming an industrial powerhouse and future ‘Wakanda’ [Asia Times]
• 10% of WIPO’s workforce comes from Africa [2018 Report]

For more news stories and developments, please check out #ipkenya on twitter and feel free to share any other IP/ICT-related items that you may come across.

Have a great week-end!

The New Face of Creative Commons in Kenya

The inaugural meeting of the Creative Commons (CC) Kenya Chapter was held on 25 July 2018. This meeting marked the transition of the CC community in Kenya into a CC Country Chapter. A key agenda item was the election of several officials to manage the affairs of the CC Kenya Chapter. As readers of this blog may know, the Creative Commons community in Kenya was previously organised using an ‘Affiliate’ model with two Leads, a Public Lead (based at CIPIT – Strathmore University) and a Legal Lead (based Kenya Law i.e. National Council for Law Reporting).

Under the new structure, the Creative Commons Global Network (CCGN) co-ordinates and provides leadership in the global CC movement. The Global Network Council (GNC) is the governing and decision-making body of the CCGN. It consists of elected representatives of all CC Country Chapters and representatives from CC HQ. CC Chapters serve as the central coordinators of the work of the individuals and institutions participating within a country in support of the CCGN. As such, all those interested in becoming members of CC must register here either as Network Members or Network Partners (for Institutions) and belong to a Country Chapter.

Behold, The Inter-Agency Anti-Illicit Trade Executive Forum and Technical Working Group

The recently formed Inter-Agency Anti-Illicit Trade clique sounds like it could have been a WhatsApp group. In last Friday’s Kenya Gazette, the Minister at the time announced the establishment and appointment of both an Inter-Agency Anti-Illicit Trade Executive Forum (23 members in total) and an Inter-Agency Anti-Illicit Trade Technical Working Group (24 members in total). The Executive Forum and Technical Working Group are apparently expected to deliver on the President’s Big 4 Agenda pillar of enhancing manufacturing so that the sector contributes 15% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 9.2% in 2016.

Music Royalties and Human Rights: High Court Decision on Copyright Collective Management Cases

 

Endless wrangles in Kenya’s collective management system have made us all experts in copyright law. The thorny question of how and to what extent key players in the collective administration of copyright and related rights must comply with the Constitution remains a hotly debated topic. This brings us to a recent judgment by the High Court in the case of Laban Toto Juma & 4 Others v. Kenya Copyright Board & 2 Others Consolidated Kakamega Petition No. 3B of 2017 delivered on 13 July 2018. A copy of this High Court judgment is available here. Not surprisingly, both sides in this see-saw legal battle are claiming victory following the court’s final verdict. So, this blogpost will attempt to examine the key issues tackled by the court in its judgment as well as some of the questions that have been left unanswered.

Kenya Copyright Board Bruised in IP Fight over ‘My Skool’ TV Show

Presently the Copyright Register (pictured above) shows that the same audiovisual work called “MY SKOOL TV SHOW” has two separate owners who registered it almost a year apart. In a recent High Court judgment in the case of Republic v Executive Director, Kenya Copyright Board & another Ex-Parte Sugarcane Communications Ltd [2018] eKLR, the court quashed a decision by Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) to cancel the copyright registration of “MY SKOOL TV SHOW” by the ex parte Applicant (Sugarcane Communications Limited). This judgment is perhaps a wake-up call for KECOBO which, unlike the Registrar of Trade Marks at Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI), is not accustomed to having its decisions regarding registration of intellectual property (IP) rights challenged by courts of law.

Anti-Counterfeit Agency Insults Intelligence of Stakeholders at ‘Consultative Forum’ on Proposed IP Law

Seriously, if you’re a stakeholder of Anti-Counterfeit Agency (ACA), you should be very concerned about some of the dangerous signs that were on full display during the ACA ‘Stakeholders Consultative Forum on the Proposed Amendments of the Anti-Counterfeit Act, 2018: Towards Improving Service Delivery of the Big 4 Agenda’ held on 13 June 2018 at Boma Inn Hotel, Nairobi. These proposed legislative changes have been previously discussed on this blog here, here, here and here.

Legal Fraternity Slams ACA on Proposed Amendments to Anti-Counterfeit Act

In a recent article in the Business Daily titled: ‘Proposed law on counterfeits will hurt businesses’, the foremost intellectual property (IP) law practitioner in the country, William Maema, has faulted Anti-Counterfeit Agency (ACA) on its proposed amendments to Anti-Counterfeit Act previously discussed on this blog here, here and here. In his hard-hitting article, Maema notes:

‘Apart from the vainglorious step of christening the Anti-Counterfeit Agency (ACA) by renaming it the Anti-Counterfeit Authority ostensibly to raise its profile to that of premier parastatals such as the Kenya Revenue Authority, Kenya Airports Authority and Communications Authority of Kenya, the new proposals achieve little else that is praiseworthy. ‘

Time to Rethink Kenya Copyright Board?

Question: What do the proposed amendments to the Copyright Act in 2017 and 2018 both have in common? Here’s a hint, it has to do with Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO). In 2017, the Copyright Amendment Bill proposed changes to the functions of the Board, composition of the Board and qualifications of the Executive Director whereas the recently tabled 2018 Bill proposes specific changes to KECOBO Board Membership. Arising from these two sets of proposals less than a year apart, there appears to be a growing call for the repeal or overhaul of the Copyright Act with specific concerns being raised about KECOBO’s Board structure, functions and role within the copyright and related rights system.

For Your Own Protection: Why Proposed Anti-Counterfeit Act Amendments Make Sense

The word ‘Disconnect’ (see caption image above) may be the title of the latest Kenyan blockbuster film but it also embodies the current raging debate over proposed changes to The Anti-Counterfeit Act No. 13 of 2008. In our previous blogposts here and here, we have largely dwelt on the demerits of the proposals contained in the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2018, which if enacted, would radically affect intellectual property (IP) enforcement in Kenya, principally undertaken by Anti-Counterfeit Agency (ACA).

Meanwhile, some readers of this blog, who happen to be IP practitioners specialising in brand enforcement and anti-counterfeiting matters, have rightly pointed out that it is equally important to consider the merits of and benefits expected from the proposed changes to the Act if and when the omnibus Bill is enacted. In particular, this blogpost will focus on the proposals relating to offences and the ‘recordation’ requirements.

#ipkenya Weekly Dozen: 14/05

• Kenya, Ghana make history as 1st African countries to ratify the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) [The East African]
• OAPI launches the official label for protected geographical indications in all member states [Official]
• ARIPO and the Arterial Network sign MoU for cooperation in copyright and related rights [Official]
• GDPR beckons: ICT Ministry establishes Taskforce on the Development of the Policy and Regulatory Framework for Privacy and Data Protection [Kenya Gazette]
• Lesotho becomes the 37th country to join the Marrakesh Treaty [WIPO]
• Uganda still hasn’t ratified Berne but was the 36th country to join the Marrakesh Treaty [WIPO]
• ARIPO Roving IP Seminar in Monrovia: ‘Only 6 Liberian Intellectual Properties Protected’ [Liberian Observer]
• ‘Taking Admiration Too Far’ in the context of cultural (mis)approriation [Afro-IP’s 2,000th post]
• Kenya: How tech, industrial parks could spur economic growth [The Star]
• South Africa: The need to reform patent system to increase local innovation [UCT IP Unit]
• Nigeria: Copyright Commission suspends operating license of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) [The Nation]
• Kenya: Local company called ABSA takes on Barclays, ABSA Bank over use of trademark [Business Daily]

For more news stories and developments, please check out the #ipkenya hashtag on twitter and feel free to share any other intellectual property-related items that you may come across.

Have a great week!