#ipkenya Weekly Dozen: 31/08

• Ethiopia: Gearing up the postal sector to drive development [UPU]
• Egypt: Mo Salah accuses Football Association of ignoring image rights [BBC]
• Ghana: ARIPO launches Masters in Intellectual Property at KNUST [Going Places]
• Nigeria: ‘White gold’ – GM cotton hope for troubled textile industry [GLP]
• South Africa: Collecting society SAMRO under fire over multi-million US Dollar Dubai investment [Apparently]
• Zimbabwe: ARIPO Magazine Vol.8 No.2 is out [Get Your Copy Here]
• Kenya: Struggle to modernise traditional medicine is far from won [The Star]
• Double Trademark Law Whammy this week over at Afro-IP [Afro Leo & Friends]
• ICYMI: This Blogger is Now A Member of the Copyright Tribunal [Shameless Plug]
• New Paper Looks At Differential Protection For TK, Folklore [IP-Watch]
• Creative Markets and Copyright in the Fourth Industrial Era: Reconfiguring the Public Benefit for a Digital Trade Economy [Okediji]
• 5th Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest [Register Here]

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!

#ipkenya Weekly Dozen: 24/08

• Kofi Annan 1938 – 2018 [UN News]
• TIDAL and MTN Uganda partner to bring music streaming to African customers [Official]
• Unlocking Disruptive Technologies and Local Knowledge for Climate Resilience [CIF]
• How State intervention could boost the fortunes of Kenya’s pharmaceutical sector [Captain Obvious]
• Court Stops DStv in Nigeria [tekedia]
• Rwandans launch first delivery drones in Africa [Ventures Africa]
• Kenya: Anti-Counterfeit Agency digitizes operations to tame rogue business practices [Standard]
• South Africa: Where does graffiti stand when it comes to copyright? [BIZCommunity]
• IIPA Claims That South Africa’s Copyright Reform Bill Would Make The Country Ineligible For AGOA Benefits [Infojustice]
• Kenyan Banks Seek Regulatory Approval to Use Blockchain Tech [Bloomberg]
• Postdoctoral Research Fellowship: DST/NRF SARChI Research Chair: Intellectual Property, Innovation & Development [IP Unit]
• Judges Wanted: Strathmore Law School ICT Moot 2018 [Volunteer Here]

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!

#ipkenya Weekly Dozen: 17/08

“M1L3L3” is “MILELE”, a Swahili word which means “Forever”

• Call for Articles – African Journal of Intellectual Property [Deadline Next Month]
• Respect for IP – Growing from the Tip of Africa: International Conference [Registration Open]
• Video: Using blockchain to prevent counterfeit drugs in Kenya [IBM Research]
• The African music industry is gaining global interest [Axios]
• Encourage imitation to boost creativity in Kenya [Captain Obvious]
• Why India’s IP policy needs a South African tweak [The Hindu]
• Adeokin v. MCSN: No CMO licence required for an exclusive licensee of copyright to enforce its licence [The 1709 Blog]
• In Case You Missed It: Kenya Patent Office is Publishing List of Expired KE Patents [Big 4 Agenda]
• South Africa: Department of Trade and Industry Film Incentive [DTI]
• The New Face of Creative Commons in Kenya [Shameless Plug]
• South Africa: IP Management and the Commercialization of Publicly Funded Research Outcomes [WIPO]
• Kenya: Request for Comments on the Proposed Privacy and Data Protection Policy and Bill, 2018 [Deadline Next Month]

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!

#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!

#ipkenya Weekly Dozen: 03/08

• A Kenyan painter’s art questions China’s deepening reach in Africa [Quartz]
• Implementing AfCFTA: When and How? [tralac]
• Draft ICANN Africa Strategic Plan 2016-2020 Version 3.0 [Have Your Say]
• How to sue a plagiarist – an opinion on the law and plagiarism [Stellenbosch]
• Interesting end to Crown Hotel-Crowne Plaza Trade Mark Dispute [Addis Fortune]
• South Africa: Fostering technology innovation [Cape Town]
• Kenya: What happened to the boy who chased away the lions? [BBC]
• Zambia: Government urges users to take up ZARRSO licences [IFRRO]
• Ethiopia: New legislation for plant breeders’ rights [A+ Bunch of Lawyers]
• African thought leaders on the Berkman Klein list of 2018-2019 Fellows [Harvard]
• Vacancies: Development, Innovation & IP @ The South Centre [Apply Now]
• WIPO Indigenous Fellowship Program [Deadline September 21, 2018]

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

Have a great week-end!

#ipkenya Weekly Dozen: 27/07

• Improving creators’ royalty collections in Africa: CMOs gather in Abidjan for CISAC’s Africa Committee [Official]
• Figures of the week: Africa’s energy innovation landscape [Brookings]
• 5th Global Congress on IP and the Public Interest, Sept 27-29 Washington DC [Register Now]
• Nigeria announces national airline, didn’t register domain names [iAfrikan]
• South Africa’s Proposed Copyright Fair Use Right Should Be A Model For The World [InfoJustice]
• Kenya: MCSK asks MPAKE to stop collecting royalties [Pot Calling Kettle]
• Africa Has an ‘Uber’ Opportunity to Disrupt Farming Technology [AGRA]
• Poor e-commerce policies slow the uptake in Africa [The Star]
• How broke public universities can change fortunes [Captain Obvious]
• Does the fourth industrial revolution call for a sui generis form of IP protection? [A+ Bunch of Lawyers]
• Comesa to set up team on digital free trade area [East African]
• Time for a Sui Generis Technology Importation Right? [Afro-IP]

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

Have a great week-end!

3, 2, 1: Action as Film Regulation Moves to ICT Ministry

Last month, the President signed Executive Order No. 1 of 2018 on the Organisation of Government which, inter alia, assigned functions and institutions among Ministries and State Departments. One interesting new change in the structure of the Government is that Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) and Kenya Film Commission (KFC) are now listed under the State Department for Broadcasting and Telecommunications in the ICT Ministry. In addition the Ministry’s functions now includes overall responsibility for policies on film development in Kenya and the development of the country’s film industry.

This may all seem like a mundane bureaucratic detail but in reality it may well represent a fundamental shift in Kenya’s approach to the development of the creative economy and the important contribution of the film industry. But like every good story, there is a plot twist: the only thing that KFCB and KFC seem to agree on is that they are better off separate than together. Lately, the two lead film agencies have been at loggerheads (see video clips here and here) over how best the film industry should be regulated for the development of this vital pillar of the creative and cultural industries.

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.

#ipkenya Weekly Dozen: 20/07

• Professor Calestous Juma Memorial Lecture: Public Policy Options for Science and Technology in Africa [Hashtag]
• CBD and ITPGRFA commit to enhanced cooperation on access and benefit-sharing of genetic resources [Official]
• Global Innovation Divide: Can Investment In Innovation Bridge The Gap? [IPW]
• Kenya is seizing the opportunity to protect individuals and their data [Privacy International]
• Tobacco Plain Packaging: An oncoming trademark dispute in South Africa? [UCT IP Unit]
• SAMPRA takes on SABC, IMPRA over needletime payout [MiA]
• Power, Profit and Sport: The Real Legacy of the Football World Cup [Nakueira]
• PAIPO – Concerns From A Brand Holder’s Perspective [africadotcom]
• South Africa: Software Developers Pasop/Beware/Qaphela/Hlokomela [A+ Bunch of Lawyers]
• Universal Music Launches Nigerian Division [Variety]
• Big Pharma and Predatory Pricing of Birth Control [Bhekisisa]
• Innovation Prize for Africa 2018: Investing in Inclusive Innovation Ecosystems [ICYMI]

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

Have a great week-end!