Geographical Indication (GI) options for Ethiopian Coffee and Ghanaian Cocoa

Innovation & Intellectual Property
2. Conceptual and practical framework
What are the conceptual, theoretical and pragmatic issues in relation to copyright
and authorship in the context of Kenyan scholarship and publishing?
Conceptualising and contextualising copyright in Kenya
As stated above, the design of copyright and related rights systems has traditionally
been based on two main competing theoretical perspectives: (1) the view
that copyright protection acts as an incentive to promote knowledge development;
and (2) the view that copyright protection can be an impediment to free
and open exchange of knowledge (Cornish et al., 2010). Neither of these views
has been subjected to sufficient empirical research in Kenya. As a result, law- and
policy-makers, as well as knowledge creators, will inevitably face problems if they
seek to design and/or implement development-oriented approaches to copyright.
This study sought to partially fill the knowledge gap by examining the potential
roles of copyright in relation to development-oriented open scholarship in
Kenya. The main research methods used were desk research (literature review,
document analysis, doctrinal analysis) and field research (surveying, interviewing
and focus-grouping stakeholders), and emphasis of the data analysis was qualitative.
The key doctrinal source was Kenya’s Copyright Act No. 12 of 2001, which
in Section 2 provides for copyright and related rights in primary works (such as
literary, artistic and musical works), and in related, secondary, neighbouring or
allied works (such as audio-visual works, sound recordings and broadcasts).
Who is an author?
The question of who is an author is contested in literary, legal and related scholarship
(Bailey, 2000; Birnhack, 2008; Nehamas, 1986). This study focused on authorship
in relation to literary works. Section 2 of Kenya’s Copyright Act contains a
broad definition of literary work, which includes:
● novels, stories and poetic works;
● plays, stage directions, film sceneries and broadcasting scripts;
● textbooks, treatises, histories, biographies, essays and articles;
● encyclopedias and dictionaries;
● letters, reports and memoranda;
● lectures, addresses and sermons;
● charts and tables;
● computer programs; and
● tables and compilations of data including tables and compilations of data
stored and embodied in a computer or a medium used in conjunction
with a computer, but does not include a written law or a judicial decision.
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