#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!

#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!

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.

Through the Roof: Iron Sheet Firm Sues for Trade Mark, Industrial Design Infringement

 

In what could be a precedent-setting case for the roofing products market, a leading iron sheet manufacturer is claiming both trade mark and industrial design protection for two of its roofing brands against a smaller rival company. The recently reported ruling in Royal Mabati Factory Limited v Imarisha Mabati Limited [2018] eKLR was the courts’ first attempt to deal with industrial property protection for corrugated iron sheets widely used as roofing material known in Kiswahili as ‘mabati’. Although not clearly distinguishing between the aspects of industrial design and trade mark protection, the court was prepared to rule in favour of Royal and grant its application for a temporary injunction against Imarisha.

Idea/Expression Murkiness: Court Ruling in Nation Media Copyright Suit over ‘LIT 360’ Simulcast Show

Like clockwork, behind every mega corporate launch in Kenya is a law suit over allegedly ‘stolen’ intellectual property (IP). In a recent High Court ruling in Incognito Productions Limited & another v Nation Media Group [2018] eKLR, the learned judge appeared to sympathise with the Plaintiffs but not enough to grant their application for a temporary injunction against the Defendant, one of Kenya’s largest media conglomerates that recently rolled out a multi-million shilling project dubbed ‘Lit Music’.

The face of Lit Music (which is really just a record label) is ‘LIT 360’, a 1-hour programme made available simultaneously on Nation’s radio, television and digital platforms. LIT 360 was designed with the aim of talent scouting, soliciting and harvesting content, as well as distribution, marketing and promotion of musical talent. As readers may have undoubtedly figured out by now, the Plaintiffs’ claim is that Nation unlawfully appropriated their concept which underlies Lit Music and LIT 360 based on a series of confidential business proposals made to Nation by the Plaintiffs between July 2016 and March 2017.

Weaves Fly in Trade Mark Fight Between Darling and Angels Hair

 

In Kenya’s cut-throat hair business, three competitors (the purveyors of hair extensions branded ‘Darling’, ‘Angels Hair’ and ‘Sistar’ respectively) have distinguished themselves through aggressive marketing and strategic litigation over their brands. In a previous blogpost here, we highlighted an interesting High Court case where the Sistar hair maker filed a trade mark infringement suit against both its rivals, Style Industries (of the ‘Darling’ fame) and Sana Industries, known for ‘Angels Hair’.

In this latest installment, we focus on the recently reported High Court ruling in Style Industries Limited v Sana Industries Co. Limited [2018] eKLR in which the Plaintiff (Style) was partially successful in its application for both injunctive relief and Anton Piller orders against the Defendant (Sana) for infringement of its ‘VIP COLLECTION’ trade mark.

#ipkenya Weekly Dozen: 06/07

• The Global Innovation Index (GII) 2018 to be released next week [You’re Invited]
• What the WTO decision on plain packaging means for developing countries [devex]
• Time for a bioeconomy in Africa [ICIPE]
• How fab labs help meet digital challenges in Africa [The Conversation]
• Lionel Messi: Image Rights, International Financial Flows, Tax Havens and its Impact on Africa and Kenya [Academia]
• Uganda’s Troubling Social Media Tax [HRW]
• Kenya’s Digital Taxi Services Paralyzed, Strike Enters 4th Day [VOA]
• Comment on South Africa’s Copyright Amendment Bill Until 18 July [PEN SA]
• On the 36th Session of the WIPO – IGC: An Interview with Professor Chidi Oguamanam [Flora IP]
• Ghana’s Copyright Administrator ordered to release funds to Audio-Visual Rights Society [GNA]
• Intellectual Property Issues in Access and Benefit-sharing Agreements [WIPO]
• Governance Issues of Nigerian Music Collecting Society, COSON Continues [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!

Fire in the Sky: Law Society Shamelessly Remains Mum in Copyright Claim

‘Fire in the Sky’ (pictured above) is a stunning photograph of Nairobi’s skyline lit up against the backdrop of New Years’ fireworks. In April 2018, this work by Reinhard Mue aka Rey Matata was unlawfully copied and used by Law Society of Kenya (LSK). In June 2018, Reinhard wrote to LSK complaining about infringement of the rights to his copyright work and threatened to take legal action. To-date, LSK and its elected leaders have failed to respond to Reinhard at all, either formally or otherwise. As a member of LSK, this blogger is disappointed that the LSK leadership has allowed such a straight-forward matter to become a public spectacle.

Mobile Developer Claims Copyright over Songa Music App by Safaricom, Radio Africa

The recently reported High Court case of Evans Gikunda v. Patrick Quarcoo & Two Others [2018] was born out of a business deal gone bad. At the heart of this dispute is a music application (app) that the plaintiff (Gikunda) claims to have conceptualised, designed and developed between 2012 and 2016. However Gikunda joined the employ of the 2nd Defendant (Radio Africa Group Limited) in 2013 where the 1st Defendant (Quarcoo), the Chief Executive at Radio Africa, ‘persuaded Gikunda to partner with him to ensure that the product gets to market’.

According to Gikunda, Quarcoo proposed that that once Radio Africa’s Board of Directors sanctioned its participation in his app, they would share out the ownership of the app as follows: Radio Africa – 40%; Gikunda- 30%; Quarcoo- 20%; and the remaining 10% to a strategic partner. However, in mid-2016, Gikunda resigned from Radio Africa after which he alleges that Quarcoo and Radio Africa sold the app, without his knowledge, to the 3rd Defendant (Safaricom).