By June Gachui
It is important as a first step to understand what kind of work/product/invention you are creating or inventing. Once this is known, the next step is to establish what kind of IP protection is best suited for the work/product/invention you have created.
This protection of your IP by the law allows the owner of the IP to continue being innovative and provides them with peace of mind because they can continue working without the fear of infringement. However, in the event that infringement occurs, there are provisions in the law that would protect your IP, provided you have successfully applied for and received the relevant registration.
There are three (3) main streams of IP protection available:
1) COPYRIGHT
It is important to note that Copyright protection arises automatically once a work has been created and it does not depend on registration. Copyright law, however, protects only the form of expression of ideas and not procedures, methods of operation or mathematical concepts as such.
It covers the following works:
Original musical, literary, artistic, audio visual works, sound recordings and broadcasts shall be eligible for copyright protection.
The Procedure that one must follow in order to be abel to effectively register their works is described clearly on the page below. Please click on the link to read more.
http://www.attorney-general.go.ke/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=120&Itemid=372
More information can be obtained from the officers at the Kenya Copyright Board:
2) PATENT
There is very useful information on the KIPI website. The following link clearly explains what is eligible for patent protection / or to be 'patented' and what is not.
http://www.kipi.go.ke/index.php/the-community
3) TRADE MARK
A Trade Mark is a sign which serves to distinguish the goods of an industrial or a commercial enterprise or a group of such enterprises. The sign may consist of one or more distinctive works, letters, numbers, drawings or pictures, monograms, signatures, colours or combination of colours etc. The sign may consist also of combinations of any of the said elements.
A Trade Mark can be a word, a symbol , a design, or a combination of these, used to distinguish the goods or services of one person or organization from those of others in the market place. The Trademarks Act (Cap 506) describes a mark as a distinguishing guise, slogan, device, brand, heading, label, ticket, name, signature, word, letter or numeral or any combination thereof whether rendered in two-dimensional or three-dimensional form. (from www.kipi.go.ke)
http://www.kipi.go.ke/index.php/trademarks
4) INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS
Kenya also provides for protection of Industrial Designs and the Industrial Property Act 2001 defines these as:
"an industrial design is defined as "any composition of lines or colours or any three dimensional form whether or not associated with lines or colours, provided that such composition or form gives a special appearance to a product of industry or handicraft and can serve as pattern for a product of industry or handicraft" .
It is important to understand that an industrial design deals with the purely visual aspects of the work/article and does not therefore protect the method of construction or the function of the article. ( from www.kipi.go.ke)
The contact details for the organizations that have been referenced above re as follows:
1)
Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI)
The Managing Director
Kenya Industrial Property Institute
Popo Rd. off Mombasa Rd. South “C”
Weights and Measures Complex
P.O. Box 51648 -00200-
NAIROBI.
Kenya
EMAIL:
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TEL: +254-20-6002210/11
FAX: +254-20-6006312
2)
Kenya Copyright Board
NHIF Building, 4th Floor
P.O. Box 34670 00100, Nairobi, Kenya
Tel. No. +254 20 2533869 +254 20 2533869 Fax: +254 20 2533869
E mail-
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; attorney-general.go.ke
