Wednesday 18 February 2009

Darren Olivier

Kenya's new anti-counterfeit legislation discussion

John Syekei (pictured) has emailed Afro-Ip alerting them to an article by Jim Onyango in Business Daily entitled Black Market Thrives Despite Enactment of Anti-Piracy Law reporting on the effectiveness of the new anti-counterfeiting laws in Kenya. "Local firms say imitation of goods is rife despite the recent enactment of stiff anti counterfeiting laws. But some businessmen say it’s too early to determine the effectiveness of the laws which were put in place in January after a five year hesitation by the legislature." Afro-Ip asks: do you agree?

The effectiveness of the new legislation apparently has also impacts the discussions on the EAC common markets protocol. According to the article"..Tanzanian manufacurers are opposed to opening up Tanzanian borders for the free movement of goods from Kenya because it may lead to fake goods entering the Tanzanian market." This statement is likely to be controversial if one considers earlier postings and comments on the development of the EAC and the grave state of counterfeiting in Tanzania, here and here.

Darren Olivier

Darren Olivier

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