The overarching argument in this essay is that Kenya and Africa have a lot of potential for, and should integrate innovation, technology development, and the protection and promotion of intellectual property (IP).
The integration needs to take a three-pronged methodology and approach. First, integration is required on a doctrinal level and IP policy reforms are necessary on a sector-specific as well as an institutional level.
Second, integration is necessary through legislative and regulatory reforms. These will help address serious weaknesses or limitations in the legal and regulatory frameworks on and in the interface among IP, innovation and transfer of technology valuation, commercialization, as well as general corporate and constitutional governance.
Third, there is a need for scholarship and practice to integrate business and law in Kenya with licensing, IP, innovation and transfer of technology. This will enable innovators, IP owners and other key stakeholders to benefit from the relevant forms of IP, including copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, unfair competition, utility model, industrial design, plant or animal breeder’s rights, and other forms of IP and innovation that have been developed and need to be nurtured.
The key research objective and methodology include review of the legal framework on IP, innovation and transfer of technology, reconceptualization, comparative analysis of how licensing and scholarship affects the status and trends in IP, innovation and transfer of technology in Kenya.
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