By Silvia Nyambura
Business owners in Uganda have been urged to protect their Intellectual Property (IP) as the World marked the Intellectual Property Day on Saturday April 26th 2014. IP means the expression of an idea, which could be business, art, music, song or an invention. This day is celebrated annually as a means of promoting discussions of the role of intellectual property (IP) in encouraging innovation and creativity.
IP theft is a form of economic crime that affects one in three organizations across the world, according to a 2014 Economic Crime Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Of major concern is that half of all economic crime occurs in Africa and cybercrime which is closely linked to IP theft is on the increase. Africa’s smart phone usage is expected to increase by 40 percent each year until 2017 while recording data growth of around 119 percent per year. This means more Africans will discuss their ideas in the public domain putting them at higher risk for IP theft.
Uganda can therefore not afford to be complacent about this issue and at the moment the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) is operating at policy level to ensure legislation is in place to protect IP. Currently existing IP laws include the Trademarks Act 2010 which protects through distinguishing enterprise goods and services from those of other entities; Trade secrets Protection Act 2009 which provides for the protection of undisclosed information in commercial transactions; the Patents Act 1993 which provides for the grant, registration and protection of patents; The Copyright and neighboring Rights Act 2009 which provides for the protection of literary, scientific and artistic intellectual works and their neighboring rights.
Allan Chekwech Steps into Daniel Kalinaki's Big Shoes at NMG UgandaBemanya Twebaze the Registrar General at USRB believes there is a huge lack of awareness among Ugandan corporates and businesses on the importance of protecting their IP. For this reason protection of IP in Uganda is still at policy level owing to the low local registration of rights.
According to World Intellectual Property Organization, when IP is stolen, the effects are severe especially for small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs). When trade secrets or the knowledge of employees, for example, falls into the wrong hands, a business loses money through a drop in sales, which in turn impacts the economy through tax losses and may also result in job cuts. Further, other manufacturers lose trust in the market and the country experiences a decrease in foreign investment.
In a press release sent to the CEO Magazine, Daniel Kamau the Anti-Piracy Lead at Microsoft Sub-Saharan Africa says, “IP theft stifles growth in larger organizations too because they are not likely to invest in research and development of a product or service that is not protected. This means human development and evolution is also curbed and the market is opened up to fake products and scams.