IP policies in Africa: No 5 - Burkina Faso

IP policies in Africa: No 5 - Burkina Faso

By Caroline B Ncube   Thursday, October 10, 2013   No comments:

This week the African IP policies series stops in Burkina Faso. An IP policy is not listed on WIPOLex with the country's other IP texts. In an interview in April 2012, the Minister for Scientific Research and Innovation, stated that the country was developing an Innovation policy. This Leo could not find any further information on the development of the Innovation policy and it would be safe to say that it is still in development.

For an interesting overview of Innovation policy issues for developing countries, this Leo recommends the OECD's Innovation Policy: A guide for Developing Countries, which is available to download in pdf, for free. It discusses the link between innovation and intellectual property and states (at p50):
      "The key innovation priority for developing countries is to acquire and use
        knowledge that already exists, which is less costly and less risky than creating
        new knowledge. While some of this knowledge is protected by intellectual
        property rights and therefore would have to be purchased, an enormous
        amount is in the public domain. Therefore, policies that facilitate access to
       global knowledge are critical."
An approach this Leo heartily endorses.

For a note on the Burkina Faso's official IP websites see Kingsley's post here.
To date this series has visited Algeria,  Angola , Benin and  Botswana and found that none of them have IP policies. 

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Burkino Faso an example to the Maasai .. and the rest of Africa

Burkino Faso an example to the Maasai .. and the rest of Africa

By Darren Olivier   Wednesday, August 07, 2013   No comments:

AllAfrica's aggregation service brings news of an ambitious project, funded by the EU, to assist the Maasai "patent" their traditional items to empower the community. Stateside, CNN helps take African innovation a step further in their interview with acclaimed Harvard academic Calestous Juma. The two news items together highlight the vast potential for African innovation to empower, and the role of IP in facilitating that.

"The idea [Massai Project between The Maasai Pastoralists Foundation and Tanzania Intellectual Property Network] is to empower the Maasai, to protect their cultural creativity by exclusive rights patent to all items related to the tribe against any inappropriate use or exploitation. The European union has already provided Tsh 601.212 million ($375,758) for that initiative. This means that for those who use Maasai traditional knowledge, culture or items for scientific and commercial purposes, should prepare to start paying for the Maasai trademarks."

Although the AllAfrica article (or the interviewees) seem to get mixed up about the types IP, it seems clear from reports here and here that the project has started with a drive toward educating the Maasai about intellectual property and how it can be used to empower their community.

Afro Leo is upbeat about the development. Provided it does not oversell IP (without more) as a solution (business building with IP is critical) and provided the community is strong enough to organise itself to achieve the goal, then it could really work.

On that thought, the CNN interview is one that every reader should take time out to view. Calestous Juma speaks about "how African innovation can take on the world", using biotechnology and progressive leadership in Burkino Faso, as an example. He is well spoken, inspiring, informative and his views, exciting. Strap yourself in and listen to Africa's potential.

If you are reading this post in email format, you will need to click here, to view it (search for "Calestous Juma" if it is not on the home page).

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A review of African official IP websites: no.5 Burkina Faso

A review of African official IP websites: no.5 Burkina Faso

By Anonymous   Monday, August 13, 2012   No comments:

 

Now that the 2012 Olympics is officially over, this little Leo feels that certain African countries may well begin an appraisal of their performance at the games. Outside Africa, Jamaica should have no reason to be downbeat as the brand equity in Usain Bolt continues on an upward trajectory as well as the island’s popularity just in the past two weeks or so. No wonder Jamaica can easily capitalise on this goodwill, like the United Kingdom, to drum up foreign direct investment which would inevitably include tourism.

For the African country in review today, its athletes will be heading home without any medals in their bags and one couldn’t just imagine laying any blame on them if they didn’t have the basic facilities or support to stand a chance. Ask Uganda’s Stephen Kiprotich, the 2012 Olympic marathon champion why he moved to Eldoret, Kenya. The adage, ‘you reap what you sow’ is often true – at least for sportsmen and women.

Let’s now talk intellectual property (IP). When Afro-IP visited Burkina Faso on 18 July 2011, we found a website for its copyright office but none for the IP office. Today, while the copyright office’s website still functions and appears updated (‘good news’! says Afro Leo), there is still, sadly, no website for the IP office.

Considering the above, a parallel - in this little Leo’s view - could be drawn here and the main question is: how can there be any improvement or development in IP administration if the office is starved of necessary support or facilities in present terms? 

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Want to know who won what?, see here

Afro-IP probably jinxed the Olympics Africa Village by mentioning it here only for it to abruptly shut three days later see here, here and here

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African Legal Resources available through FALM

African Legal Resources available through FALM

By Afro Ng'ombe   Sunday, August 21, 2011   No comments:

Every so often, Afro-Leo stumbles upon some legal resource of which the little lion was previously unaware.  The Free Access to Law Movement is one of these. 

Originally formed in 2002, FALM members believe “Public legal information from all countries and international institutions is part of the common heritage of humanity.”  (Full FALM declaration available here.)

These goats are much more interested in farms than FALM.

Members of FALM make an effort to ensure their country’s laws area available freely online.  There’s a surprising number of African members with resources available online.

Botswana eLaws: http://www.elaws.gov.bw/
Juri Burkina for Burkina Faso: http://www.juriburkina.org/juriburkina/ (French)
Juri Niger: http://www.juriniger.org/juriniger/ (French)
Juriste.ma for Morocco: http://www.juriste.ma/ (Arabic)
Kenya Law Reports (KLR): http://www.kenyalaw.org/klr/index.php
Liberia Legal Information Institute: http://www.liberlii.org/
Malawi Legal Information Institute: http://www.malawilii.org/
Namibia Legal Information Institute: http://www.namlii.org/
Southern African Legal Information Institute for all of Southern Africa:  http://www.saflii.org/
Swaziland Legal Information Institute: http://www.swazilii.org/
Ugandan Legal Information Institute: http://www.ulii.org/

These are not IP-specific resources, but they may be a good place to start when looking for statutes, decisions and the like.  Between these resources and the resources being posted by Kingsley as he travels across the continent alphabetically, Afro-Leo sees much hope for readers finding the information they need.  And, when those sources don’t work, you can always reach out to Afro-Leo and fellow readers.

The full list of members can be found at: http://www.falm.info/

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A to Z of African official IP websites: no. 5: Burkina Faso

A to Z of African official IP websites: no. 5: Burkina Faso

By Jeremy   Monday, July 18, 2011   No comments:

In this, the fifth in Afro-IP's series of visits to the official IP websites of African states, Kingsley Egbuonu visits Burkina Faso. A keen connoisseur of intellectual property websites, Kingsley has been finding little to satisfy his desire for online information as he works his way through the first couple of letters of the alphabet. Kingsley writes:

Burkina Faso

Overview

Burkina Faso is a contracting party to, inter alia, the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) www.oapi.int, WIPO and WTO. 

Copyright Office
• The Bureau Burkinabe des Droits d'Auteur (BBDA) operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism.
• This office has a website which is in French www.bbda.bf (although © is dated 2007, the site appears to be updated).
• Among other things, this website is useful for general information on copyright law and procedure in Burkina Faso; however, a few links or pages do not function. 

Industrial Property Office
• The National Directorate of Industrial Property under the auspices of the Ministry of Trade, Promotion of Companies and Handicraft.
• There is no website for this office.

You can contact Kingsley on Twitter at @IPinAfrica

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