INTRODUCTION TO

INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY RIGHTS
Sylvance A. Sange
Chief Trade Marks Examiner
KIPI
ctme@kipi.go.ke
 Intellectual Property
 Intellectual Property is a property that
arises from the human intellect. It is a
product of human creation.

 Intellectual Property is the creation of the

human intellectual process and is
therefore the product of the human
intellect or mind.
 Intellectual Property

 It is an intangible form of property.

 It is a personal property.

 It is a basic form of property.

 It is based on information.
 Objects of Intellectual
Property
 The objects of the rights covered by
the concept of intellectual property
are manifestations of human
creativity.
-the form of the work;
-the invention; and
-the relationship between a symbol
and a business.
 Protected Intellectual
Property

 Invention by a patent or as trade secret.

 Utility models by a certificate or secret.
 Industrial Design by a certificate.
 Trade and Service Mark by a certificate.
 Copyright by reducing to a fixed form.
 Protection of Intellectual
Property

 Venetian Patent Law of the 19th March

1474
‘…each person who will make in this city
any new and ingenious contrivance, not
made heretofore in our dominion, as soon
as it is reduced to perfection,….
 Protection of Intellectual
Property

It being forbidden to any other in any

territory and place of ours to make any
other contrivance in the form and
resemblance thereof, without the consent
and licence of the author up to ten years.’
 Protection of Intellectual
Property in Kenya
 Paris convention – 1965
 UCC - 1966
 WIPO – 1967
 Geneva Convention – 1976
 ARIPO – 1978
 Brussels Convention – 1979
 Nairobi Treaty – 1982
 Bern Convention – 1993
 Protection of Intellectual
Property in Kenya
 Patent cooperation treaty PCT – 1994
 TRIPS – 1995
 WIPO Copyright Treaty – 1996
 WPPT – 1996
 UPOV – 1999
 Madrid System – 1998
 Singapore Treaty - 2006
 Intellectual Property Branches
in Kenya

 Industrial Property

 Copyright

 Plant breeders Rights (PBR).

 Industrial Property
 Industrial Property Includes:
-Patents
-Utility Models
-Industrial Designs
-Trade Secrets
-Trade and Service Marks
-Geographical Indications
-Layout Designs of Integrated Circuits.
 Copyright
 Copyright includes:
-Literary
-Artistic works
-Musical works
 Plant breeders Rights
(PBR)

 Plant Breeders Rights include:

-new varieties all plant species (except
algae and bacteria)
 Intellectual Property in Kenya

Background
 Copyright Act Cap 130 (1966)

 TradeMarks Act 1913 (TM Ordinance).

 Between 1914 and 1989 Patents

Registration Act Cap 508 was the law

governing patent protection in Kenya.
 The law required an inventor to apply and

obtain protection in UK before having the

same registered in Kenya.
Bills aimed at complying with
TRIPS Agreement

 Geographical Indications

 Layout of Integrated Circuits

 Counterfeit Goods

 Trade secrets
 Other Forms Of Protection
Being Considered

 Traditional Knowledge and Folklore

 Genetic resources
 Intellectual Property in Kenya
1. Industrial Property Rights -
administered by the Kenya industrial
property institute (KIPI) under IPA 2001 &
TM of 1957 & Amended in 2002.

2. Copyright & Neighbouring Rights

-Administered by Office of Registrar
General under the Copyright Act. 2001

3. Plant Breeder’s Rights- Administered

by KEPHIS under an Act of 1997
 Kenya Industrial Property
Institute

 The Kenya Industrial Property Institute

(KIPI) was transformed from Kenya
Industrial Property Office (KIPO) upon
enactment of the Industrial Property Act
2001.
 Kenya Industrial Property
Institute

 To modernize the protection of industrial

property in Kenya
-including the provision for parallel
importation of essential medicine, in
accordance the Trade Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
 Kenya Industrial Property
Institute
 To improve the administration and
management of the Office
-separating policy and administrative
functions of the Office.
-creating a more business oriented
approach to cost recovery and expenditure
control, including capital investment
strategies and market-based staff
remuneration.
 Core Functions
 Examine applications for and grant
industrial property rights for:
-Patents for inventions
- utility models for innovations
-Industrial Designs for aesthetic features
of products
-Trade and service marks for goods and
services.
 Core Functions
 To provide industrial property information
to the public.

 To promote inventiveness and

innovativeness in Kenya.

 To organise and conduct training,

competition and awards in IP.
 Why Protect Intellectual
Property
 “Technology” means systematic
knowledge for the manufacturing of a
product, or the rendering of a service in
industry, agriculture or commerce,….
-providing a solution to a problem
-communicable by one person to
another
-directed to an end.
 Why Protect Intellectual
Property

 Fosters economic growth

 Provides incentives for technological

innovation, and

 Attracts investment that will create new

jobs and opportunities.
 Patentable Subject Matter
 Human necessities: agriculture, foodstuff,
tobacco, personal or domestic articles,
health and amusement.
 Performing operations and transporting:
separating, mixing, shaping, printing and
transporting.
 Chemistry and metallurgy.
 Textiles and paper.
 Patentable Subject Matter
 Fixed constructions: building, earth moving
and mining.
 Mechanical engineering, lighting, heating,
weapons, blasting including engines or
pumps and engineering in general.
 Physics: instruments and nucleonics.
 Electricity.
 Unpatentable Subject Matter
 A discovery, scientific theory or
mathematical method;
 A literary, dramatic, musical or artistic
work, or any other aesthetic creation;
 A scheme, rule or method for performing
any mental act, playing a game or doing
business, or a program for a computer;
 Mere presentation of information.
 Unpatentable Subject Matter
 Plant varieties, but not parts thereof or
products or biotechnological processes;
 Inventions contrary to public order,
morality, public health and safety,
principles of humanity, and environmental
conservation; and
 Any other invention that may be declared
non-patentable by the Minister in charge of
Industrial Property matters.
 Filing For A Patent Application
In Kenya
 Four Routes

-LOCAL
-ARIPO
-PCT (World intellectual
Property Organization-WIPO)
-FOREIGN - DIRECT
 Utility Model
 Defination

A utility model is an invention that can be

utilized in industry, agriculture, education
services or environmental conservation
and which relates to shape, structure or
assemblages of articles.

 It must be new
 Be Industrially applicable
 Industrial Design

 Industrial Design is the ornamental or

aesthetic aspect of a useful article of
industry. The aspect that gives special
appearance to a product of industry
 The Industrial Property
Tribunal

 There exist the Industrial Property Tribunal

which deals with hearing of IP matters,
particularly evaluating and determining
appeals from the decisions of the KIPI
Managing Director affecting grants.

 It handles disputes concerning patents,

utility models, industrial designs.
 Copyright
 Definition

Protection of cultural, artistic and literary

written works such as poems, novels,
articles, musical works, paintings,
cinematographic work, photographic,
sculpture and computer programs.
 Plant breeders Rights(PBR)

 Protection of New varieties of plants

-distinct,
-uniform, and
-stable.
 Trade and Service Marks
 A trade mark is a sign used on, or in
connection with the marketing of,
goods or services.
 Used “on” the goods means that it

may appear not only on the goods

themselves but on the container or
wrapper in which the goods are when
they are sold.
 Trade and Service Marks
 Used “in connection with” the marketing of
the goods refers mainly to:

-the appearance of the sign in

advertisements (newspaper, television,
etc.) or

-in the shop windows of the shops in

which the goods are sold.
 Category of Trade Marks
 Certain types of marks should not
be protected, Marks are
categorized as:
-Generic,
-Descriptive,
-Suggestive, and
-Arbitrary or fanciful.
 Category of Trade Marks
 Trade Mark cannot be
categorized in a vacuum. It is
essential to know the product or
service to which the mark will be
applied in order to place it in the
proper category
 Example: APPLE is generic for
apples, but arbitrary for
computers.
 Registration Procedure
 Application for search.
 Application for registration.

 Examination of trade mark.

 Advertisement of trade mark.

 Filing of opposition.

 Certificate issued/hearing set.

 Goods Covered
 18 Leather and imitations of leather, and
goods made of these materials and not
included in other classes; animal skins,
hides; trunks and travelling bags;
umbrellas, parasols and walking sticks;
whips, harness and saddlery.
 24 Textiles and textile goods, not included
in other classes; bed and table covers. 
 25 Clothing, footwear, headgear.
 Goods Covered
 29 Meat, fish, poultry and game; meat extracts;
preserved, dried and cooked fruits and
vegetables; jellies, jams, compotes; eggs, milk
and milk products; edible oils and fats.

 30 Coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar, rice, tapioca,

sago, artificial coffee; flour and preparations
made from cereals, bread, pastry and
confectionery, ices; honey, treacle; yeast,
baking-powder;
salt, mustard; vinegar, sauces (condiments);
spices; ice.
 Live of a Trade Mark
Terms become generic overtime because
of the way the public used them and
because of the originators’ failure to police
them.
-examples: YO-YO “returning top”
fanciful and ESCALATOR “moving stairs”
suggestive.
 Live of a Trade Mark
 More examples of generic product names that
used to be trade marks: Zipper, Cellophane,
Thermos, Aspirin (for acetylsalicylic acid);
Trampoline (for a spring supported canvas
jumping apparatus); Kerosene (for distilled
petroleum lamp oil); Granola (for a cereal
consisting of rolled oats, fruit and nuts);
Brassiere (for a woman’s undergarment worn to
support the breasts); and Heroin (for
diacetylmorphine). “Heroin” was originally
suggestive mark. Workers at Bayer said it made
them feel “heroisch.”
 Live of a Trade Mark
 The law provides that non-use of a mark
for consecutive 5 years is ordinarily
considered proof of an intention to
abandon it.

 Delay in enforcement of a mark against a

third party may cause lose of rights.
 Contact:

Kenya Industrial Property Institute

Kapiti Road off Mombasa Road
Weights & Measures Premises.
Email: kipi@swiftkenya.com
Website: http://www.kipi.go.ke

End
 Thank You!
Enjoy the Seminar