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Following the successful trial in Kenya, the software giant, Microsoft handed over the source code for an online intellectual property (IP) registration system to IP authorities across Africa, including the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO).
The online registration system replaces the traditional manual process of submitting paper-based forms, making the registration of IP fast, accessible and more efficient. Microsoft 4Afrika is handing over the source code to an online automated IP registration system, to help IP authorities across Africa drive a culture of IP protection.
The countries within COMESA whose IP authorities will receive the source code from Microsoft include: Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
IP protection, including patents, trademarks and copyrights, are essential for small businesses to get ahead of their competitors, generate investment and ultimately bring their ideas to market. However, many innovations in Africa do not come to fruition due to of lack of knowledge about, and red tape around, registering IP.
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), resident applications for patents in various African countries are still low. In 2014, there were 752 patent applications in Egypt, 132 in Kenya, 14 in Zambia and only 5 in Rwanda, compared to over 280,000 in the U.S. and 19,000 in the United Kingdom. At the same time the registration of copyright in many African states has not taken off and this data is not taken into account in economic surveys.
SOURCE: VANGUARD
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