KENYA: IP TECH DIGEST
Our IP & Technology Practice, which includes a vibrant data protection practice, has been busy advising on a wide range of IP and technology transactions over the past month. We have acted for major companies on IP related disputes touching on patents, copyright and trademarks as well as advising on anti-counterfeit actions. In the past month, we have seen an uptake in cybercrime advisory work, following the publication of an amendment bill to amend provisions of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act and the consequent extension of its regularisation deadline from July to November by the Court of Appeal.
We continue to be a market leader in advising on data privacy, an area that is ever evolving in Kenya, following the setting up of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) and the publication of the Draft Data Protection Regulations.
Updates from Regulatory Bodies
KIPI
The Industrial Property Journal for August 2021 is available on the KIPI website. You can find it here.
KECOBO
Copyright board delists 3 royalty collecting agencies
The Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) has revoked operating licences for agencies that collect and distribute royalties on intellectual works by artistes for three months or until further advised. In a notice to the public, KECOBO said the Kenya Association of Music Producers (Kamp), the Performers Rights Society of Kenya (PRISK), and the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) violated licensing conditions.
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Source: Business Daily
WIPO
No updates this month.
Office of the Data Protection Commissioner
Political parties move to resolve errors in registration
A digital platform will be set up to allow Kenyans who were erroneously registered to political parties recently to resign from them and or register with other preferred outfits. Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu and Data Protection Commissioner Immaculate Kassait recently held a meeting in Nakuru with political parties secretary generals on the matter. Addressing the press, Nderitu said the parties have agreed to work closely with the relevant offices to ensure that the concerns raised by affected voters are addressed prior to the next polls.
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Source: The Standard
The Communications Authority of Kenya
Telecom’s regulator moves to review mobile call rates
The Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) is set to review the rate at which mobile phone companies charge to connect calls (interconnection or termination rates) in a move that could spark another price war in the country’s telecommunications sector. The regulator said in a notice the review, coming after 10 years, will be conducted by comparing and contrasting the cost of voice calls in Kenya and similar economies.
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Source: The Standard
Development in the Intellectual Property Arena
Copyright
Chris Kirubi Firm, Longhorn Publishers, Loses Royalties Battle
The Dr. Chris Kirubi majority-owned Longhorn Publishers has been ordered to pay two authors Sh35 million for books the government bought in bulk from the company, which then refused to remit royalties to two authors. The writers, Dr. Stephen Mburu and Dr. Geoffrey Chemwa, had sued Longhorn, where Dr. Kirubi was a shareholder.
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Source: All Africa
Copyright commission impounds pirated books worth N1.5m
The Nigerian Copyright Commission in collaboration with armed policemen have arrested three suspected pirates and impounded 250 pirated copies of the Holy Bible in Suleja Market, Niger State. NCC Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Vincent Oyefeso, who announced the figure in a statement on 13 August 2021in Abuja, said the Commission also impounded different textbooks.
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Source: Punch Nigeria
Alibaba launches NFT marketplace for copyright trading
Alibaba has launched a new marketplace allowing trademark holders to sell NFTs representing licenses to their copyright. Chinese multinational e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding has launched a new nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace allowing trademark holders to sell tokenized licenses to their intellectual property. The new NFT marketplace, dubbed “Blockchain Digital Copyright and Asset-Trade,” can be accessed via Alibaba’s Auction platform. NFTs launched via the platform will be issued on the “New Copyright Blockchain” — a distributed ledger technology platform centrally operated by the Sichuan Blockchain Association Copyright Committee.
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Source: Coin Telegraph
Trade Marks
Belfast duo in trademark battle with Mariah Carey over Black Irish drinks brand
Two Belfast-based drinks veterans have become embroiled in an escalating trademark battle with Mariah Carey over Black Irish, the name the global pop superstar has selected for her new cream liqueur. Steven Pattison and Richard Ryan are the co-founders of drinks brand and design company Drinksology Kirker Greer. Their Belfast and Dublin operation has helped create leading drinks brands like Jawbox Gin and Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin. - 3 - Ip & Tech Weekly- 27 August 2021 How do you protect your brand when an entire pandemic is named after you? Amazon accelerates in Singapore Kicked by the FOOT They’re also the co-founders and directors of Darker Still Spirits, which last year launched Black Irish, a new drink blending two of Ireland’s most famous exports: Stout and whiskey.
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Source: Irish News
Super Cruise vs. Blue Cruise: GM and Ford slug it out in trademark dispute
As General Motors and Ford work to develop self-driving vehicles, their lawyers are busy battling over what they should be allowed to call the technology. Late last month, GM filed a trademark infringement case to block Ford from using the name "Blue Cruise" for its soon-to-be-released hands-free driving feature." GM remains committed to vigorously defending our brands and protecting the equity our products and technology have earned over several years in the market and that won't change," GM said in a statement.
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Source: CNN
Alt-milk maker Oatly loses trademark case against family-run UK firm
A family-run company sued by Oatly for alleged trademark infringement has won a legal battle against the multimillion-pound firm. The Swedish oat milk company Oatly brought legal action against Glebe Farm Foods, a Cambridgeshire-based company that specialises in producing glutenfree oats, accusing them of attempting to take “unfair advantage” of Oatly’s trademarks with their oat drink called PureOaty. Glebe Farm Foods, run by the brother and sister Philip and Rebecca Rayner, denied the claims and in a judgment on Thursday, Judge Nicholas Caddick QC ruled in favour of the siblings.
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Source: The Guardian
Patents
Brazil Senate Approves Bill That Could Allow Coronavirus Vaccine Patents to Be Broken
Brazil's Senate on Wednesday approved a bill to temporarily break patents for vaccines and their ingredients in health or public emergencies, such as the coronavirus pandemic. The bill, having already passed in the lower house, will go to President Jair Bolsonaro for possible signature.
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Source: US New
Tesla patent application describes wild glass-forming techniques for Cybertruck
The Tesla Cybertruck may not be coming this year, but the automaker's clearly busy sorting out what the production electric pickup truck will bring to the road. In a new patent application Tesla filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office this month, the automaker described a glass-forming method that involves intricate curves and "feature lines." Essentially, Tesla describes bringing a little bit of personality to the Cybertruck's front windshield.
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Source: CNET
South Africa issues world's first patent listing AI as inventor
South Africa has become the first country to award a patent that names an artificial intelligence as its inventor and the AI’s owner as the patent's owner. The patent was secured by University of Surrey professor Ryan Abbott and his team, who have been at odds with patent offices around the world for years over the need to recognise artificial intelligences as inventors. Abbott was representing Dr Stephen Thaler, creator of an artificial neural system named Dabus ('device for the autonomous bootstrapping of unified sentience'), which Thaler claims is the sole inventor of a food container that improves grip and heat transfer.
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Source: Global Legal Post
Judge Orders Novartis to Cough Up $178 Million to Plexxikon Over Patent Infringements
In California, a federal jury declared Thursday that Novartis’ Tafinlar infringed on two cancer drug patents owned by Daiichi Sankyo’s Plexxikon. As a result, Novartis has been ordered to pay Plexxikon $178 million for damages related to the alleged patent infringement. The patents owned by Plexxikon are for compounds that reduce cancer cell growth and were initially developed in 2005. The company’s inventions helped in the co-development of Zelboraf, a melanoma drug, with Roche. In 2011, Plexxikon received approval for Zelboraf, while GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which traded the drug to Novartis in 2015, applied for its Tafinlar patents in 2008 and received approval in 2013.
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Source: Bio Space
Industrial Designs
The economic value of designs
When two products are equal in price, function, and quality, the betterlooking product will outsell the other.” This is an uncontested truth. First declared by the creator of industrial design Raymond Loewy in 1929, it is still worth quoting. It may hold even more truth in the digital world. On the screen, the immediate attention that a product attracts for just a few seconds may decide its economic success or failure. The phrase ‘you never get a second chance to make a first impression’ is a good addition to what we have learned from the past if we want to shed light on the value of design today and in the future.
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Source: WTR
Trade Secrets
German Ministry Investigated "For Sharing Daimler Secrets"
German prosecutors said they had opened an investigation against persons unknown at the transport ministry and the KBA federal transport authority on suspicion of leaking trade secrets from car giant Daimler. The probe is centered on "the suspicion of the unauthorized disclosure of trade or business secrets to Daimler's disadvantage", a spokeswoman for the Stuttgart prosecutor's office told AFP, confirming a report in finance magazine.
To read more click here.
Source: NDTV
Technology, Media and Telecommunications
Kenyan YouTube content creators will receive up to Sh1.1 million pay every month for short 15-second videos uploaded
Kenyan YouTube content creators will receive up to Sh1.1 million pay every month for short 15-second videos uploaded. YouTube has said a new Sh10.98 billion ($100 million) YouTube fund will be distributed between 2021 and 2022, as a reward for creating exciting and engaging content on the global platform. The fund will be distributed to thousands of eligible creators each month as a bonus payment, based on their content’s performance in the previous month. This will be the first-time creators and artists are paid in the platform after the new short-form vides were introduced in the county in July.
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Source: Business Daily
ICEA Lion app offers 15pc discount on safe driving
Drivers with a good accident history will enjoy up to 15 percent discount on their motor vehicle insurance covers after ICEA Lion unveiled a technology that will track customers’ discipline including speed and phone usage. The mobile phone-based application dubbed SecuDrive, captures and transmits specific data such as one’s acceleration, braking and phone usage then assigns ratings to drivers. Drivers with a higher rating will enjoy discounts on monthly premiums, a departure from the current practice in which all customers pay a flat rate regardless of whether their history points to higher accidents or not.
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Source: Business Daily
Equitel rolls out 4G network service
Equitel has rolled out its fourth generation (4G) network service to offer customers improved Internet banking services. The Equity Group’s mobile virtual network operator said its new 4G broadband service will offer faster browsing speeds to stream, download and upload. “The new Equitel 4G SIM will address the issues of slow Internet connection and limited data coverage,” Finserve Africa Managing Director and Equity Group IT and Operations Director Lanre Bamisebi said on Thursday. The SIM cards are available at Equity Bank branches.
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Source: Business Daily
Safaricom and NSE to Help Kenyans Invest in Stocks Using Bonga Points
Safaricom and Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) have announced a partnership to enable Kenyans invest in stocks using their accrued bonga points. The service is available to all Safaricom customers, who can redeem their points through licensed Trading Participants, with ten already activated. These include NCBA Capital, Faida Investment Bank, AIB-AXYS, ABC Capital, Old Mutual Securities, Kingdom Securities, Suntra Investments, Francis Drummond & Company, Dyer & Blair Investments, and Sterling Capital LTD. More Trading Participants will join in due course.
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Source: Tech News Africa.
TNM Mpamba and Mastercard Come Together to Enable Better e-Commerce in Malawi
In a country-first for Malawi, mobile money service provider TNM Mpamba has launched a Mastercard virtual payment solution that will enable TNM Mpamba mobile money wallet customers to make safe and seamless local and international e-commerce transactions. This is expected to enhance financial inclusion and improve access to the digital economy. Through a Mastercard virtual (non-plastic) payment solution linked to the TNM Mpamba mobile money wallet, customers will be able to make payments to local and global online brands and merchants, expanding their reach to an international marketplace.
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Source: Tech Africa News
Facebook Marketplace Rolls Out Across Sub-Saharan Africa
Facebook has announced the launch of Marketplace to 37 countries and territories in Sub-Saharan Africa, including: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Eswatini, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Namibia, Niger, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Western Sahara and Zimbabwe. Currently available in South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria, Marketplace is a convenient destination where people can discover, buy and sell items from others in their local communities, simply by tapping on the Marketplace icon to browse and search for items, or filter by distance or category.
To read more, click here.
Source: Apps Africa
Apple tweaks app pay rules in $100m settlement
Apple app developers will soon be able to email customers and tell them how to avoid Apple's payment systems. The current rules ban app makers from mentioning that there are ways to pay that avoid Apple's 30% cut, even through e-mail outside the store. But as part of a $100m (£73m) legal settlement with developers, the tech giant is changing its policy. Apple said the change was a "clarification" and part of its "efforts to evolve the App Store". The terms are still subject to judicial approval. Once active, developers will be able to use email addresses gathered from their App Store customers to email them about ways to pay outside of Apple's system
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Source: BBC
Twitter tests option for users to report 'misleading' tweets to crack down on misinformation
After years of accusations that it's helped spread misinformation, Twitter is finally giving users an easy way to report misleading tweets. But don't expect anything to happen right away because of it. Twitter users in some countries, including the United States, will now be able to report tweets to the social media platform that contain misinformation, the company announced on Tuesday. The new feature became available Tuesday to small groups of users in the US, South Korea and Australia, Twitter said. The explanation "it's misleading" will now appear as an option for those users to select when they seek to report a problematic tweet.
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Source: CNN
Apple plans to scan US iPhones for child sexual abuse images
Apple will scan photo libraries stored on iPhones in the US for known images of child sexual abuse, the company says, drawing praise from child protection groups but crossing a line that privacy campaigners warn could have dangerous ramifications. The company will also examine the contents of end-to-end encrypted messages for the first time. Apple’s tool, called neuralMatch, will scan images before they are uploaded to the company’s iCloud Photos online storage, comparing them against a database of known child abuse imagery. If a strong enough match is flagged, then Apple staff will be able to manually review the reported images, and, if child abuse is confirmed, the user’s account will be disabled and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) notified.
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Source: The Guardian
Hackers steal nearly $100m in Japan crypto heist
Leading Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Liquid has been hit by hackers, with almost $100m (£73m) estimated to have been stolen. The company announced that some of its digital currency wallets have been "compromised." It is the second major theft of cryptocurrencies to take place in recent days. Last week, digital token platform Poly Network was at the centre of a $600m heist.
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Source: BBC