The WHO - an admission?

The WHO - an admission?

By Darren Olivier   Wednesday, July 21, 2010   No comments:

The World Health Organisation (WHO) agrees that the anti-counterfeit legislation that has been adopted or that is under consideration in East Africa threatens the accessibility of affordable generic medicines according to this report published by IPS Inter Press Sevice. The report follows the recent Kenyan case kindly reported by John Syekei here. Afro-IP generated some helpful comments from co-blogger Paul Asiimwe and others here, one of which was that the Kenyan definition of "counterfeiting" was almost identical to the WHO definition (WHO site -here). Afro Leo has not had the opportunity to compare the texts and would welcome views. Does the WHO admit that its template legislation is flawed?

Read More

Kenya's new anti-counterfeit legislation discussion

Kenya's new anti-counterfeit legislation discussion

By Darren Olivier   Wednesday, February 18, 2009   No comments:

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.

Read More

Orange makes entry into East African markets

Orange makes entry into East African markets

By Asiimwe Paul   Friday, September 26, 2008   No comments:

It has now been confirmed by the East African newspaper that France Telecom one of the world's leading players in the telecoms sector will use Kenya as the launchpad for its operations in East Africa.

France Telecom through Orange purchased a majority stake of 51% in Telkom Kenya which makes it one of the three largest telcos in Kenya, the others being market leader Safaricom and newly christened Zain (formerly Celtel). Orange launched its mobile service last week, having hitherto focused mainly on fixed telephony under the Telkom Kenya brand.

Whereas a new player of the France telecom kind will definately help deflate prices for mobile services, it is unclear to what extent the provision of data services will be positively impacted in Kenya and the region at large. Hopefully, the entry of Orange in Kenya will lead to downward pressure on the price of telecom services in the region generally, as well as better service delivery and innovation.

Read More

80% of trade marks counterfeited in Kenya

80% of trade marks counterfeited in Kenya

By Njuguna   Tuesday, April 22, 2008   No comments:

Daily Nation reports that 80% of local and international brands are counterfeited in Kenya, while 97% of local music is pirated. According to the report, these statistics were given by the American Chamber of Commerce Kenya (ACCK) in a ceremony held to install Dr Nelson Githinji, who also happens to be the head of public policy at Coca-Cola East and Central Africa, as the President of ACCK. ACCK is a non-profit organization founded by American investors in Kenya, with membership open companies having strong business ties with the United States.

In his acceptance speech Githinji said he would address the issues of counterfeits, piracy and intellectual property rights which are “crucial issues that the organization has been lobbying for”.

Read More