The Computer Society of Kenya

Since 1986

GESBUSINESS DAILY By CATHY MPUTHIA

Monday July 27, 2015

The Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi has just concluded after attracting many participants from all over the world.

Many participants would be curious to know what Kenya’s innovation and intellectual property (IP) regime is like. While it is not as advanced as in other countries, the intellectual property regime is supportive to innovators.

The legal regime is governed by a series of policies, statutes and case law. IP in Kenya is mainly governed by the Kenya Industrial Property Institute (Kipi), the Kenya Copyright Board (Kecobo) and the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (Kephis).

Kipi governs patents, trademarks, utility models, industrial designs and traditional knowledge. Kecobo handles copyright issues while Kephis deals with plant breeders’ rights.

There are many policies on science but the main one that forms part of the IP regime is the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policy. Kenya’s Vision 2030 economic blueprint places an emphasis on agriculture, health, trade, capacity development, infrastructure, energy, environment and ICT as the main drivers of growth.

Many venture capitalists seem keen on science-based innovations such as those in agriculture, health and engineering, ignoring technology-based innovations such as software.

Kenya’s innovation policy provides for the undertaking of institutional reforms, bringing players in the industry together, providing supportive ICT infrastructure, providing skilled labour, undertaking more research, applying traditional knowledge and strengthening the intellectual property rights.

The STI policy would be a good place to start to guide your own policies and strategies when it comes to innovation. This, together with Vision 2030, can give any investor a feel of Kenya’s objectives in terms of economic growth.

The Science, Technology and Innovation Act proposes, among other things, the formation of the Innovation Authority, which will be charged with streamlining the innovation sector in Kenya.

The right to IP has been recognised as a proprietary right under the Constitution in Article 40. The Industrial Property Act provides legislation on patents, utility models, industrial designs and technovations.

The law sets the base requirement for each of these different IPR and also provides for procedure of securing the rights and infringement claims. There is a patent tribunal, which has jurisdiction to hear infringement claims.

The Trademarks Act governs trademarks and also sets out the procedure and offences. Both the Trademarks Act and Industrial Property Act are governed by Kipi.

The Copyright Act is governed by Kecobo. It sets out the rights of performers, authors, reproduction rights and rights of broadcasters amongst others. The Anti-Counterfeit Act deals with counterfeits and is enforced by the Anti-Counterfeit Agency.

As of now there are few venture capitalists who invest in the innovative sector. Lack of financing means that there is lack of ability to commercialise the innovations.

Another challenge is lack of business management skills and proper governance from innovators. This means that despite their innovative ideas, their enterprises do not reach maximum potential as other skills such as marketing and financial record keeping are wanting.

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