Martin, Thanks so much for the information. I am trying to contribute to the debate on whether software should be patented or copyrighted from a Kenyan perspective... Its been most useful . Cheers. 2009/10/21 Martin Mucheke <kmucheke@gmail.com>:
@Grace. During this years ASK Show i visited different stands so as to find the differences btwn the various forms of Ip rights. Copyright in Kenya is administered by the Kenya Copyright Board under the AGs office. It is a set of rights for literary works e.g films, music, computer generated works like software etc . To get a copyright you have to take your work to them in CD media. After they verify your work is genuine a certificate is issued. The fee if i can remember correctly was about ks.8,000 for software. Since it is private right the board & police can't act without a complaint from the author about infringement. The author may pursue civil or/and criminal action against the infringer. Check out www. attorney-General.go.ke/copyright. Patents are issued for ideas, inventions, utility and must be new & industrially applicable i.e mass production. Patents,trademarks/tradenames are issued by KIPI which is under the ministry of industrialisation. The stages involved in a patent are: 1. Application 4 patent 2. Examination 3. Publication in a journal 4. Registration 5. Renewal after expiry of patent Contact them through info@kipi.go.ke. Software is copyrighted and not patented. Copyright lasts as the authors lifetime + 50 yrs whereas the patent lasts for 15yrs after which it is in public domain even though it is renewable. Regards. Martin Mucheke _______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke Other lists ------------- Announce: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks-announce Science: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/science kazi: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/admin/kazi/general
-- Grace L.N. Mutung'u (Bomu) +254721898732 +254736091242 Kenya