AJIC Issue 16, 2015
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Innovation in technology, in production of goods and services, in business processes, in formal and informal economic settings, in electronic media and audio-visual content, in music – all these and other fields of innovation sit on foundations of knowledge, either private or common, appropriated via various mechanisms, including intellectual property (IP) tools. For almost two decades, the movement for access to knowledge (A2K) has slowly emerged, seeking open approaches to appropriation and IP and giving rise to a range of new phenomena for investigation. In the age of the Internet, knowledge can flow easily across borders, across industries and economic sectors, and across and among economic and social interest groups. The availability of rich sources of knowledge for productive innovation can enrich the African continent – it is possible. However, policy, law and regulation have not kept pace with the rapid changes in the availability of knowledge. Outdated policy, law and regulation, or practice, may limit the potential for knowledge resources to have full economic or social impact. These and other research problems are explored in the articles and thematic reports in this thematic issue.
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Item Prospects for Open Licensing of Knowledge Materials in Ethiopia(2015-12-15) Baraki, SebleEthiopia, one of the world’s poorest countries, has in the past two decades made significant strides in national educational attainment. However, the country’s educational policy objectives still face numerous barriers. In this piece the author argues that a key challenge for Ethiopia’s education system is access to knowledge (A2K), specifically access to copyright-protected scholarly and learning materials. The author proposes increased use of open-licensed materials, such as those licensed under the Creative Commons (CC) suite of licensing tools, which take a flexible approach to copyright in order to allow users to, inter alia, engage in permission-free copying and re-distribution of the works. Greater use of such open materials would, the author contends, produce cost savings for the Ethiopian government, allowing the state to increase its investments in other key components of the educational system such as facilities, Internet connectivity and teacher training and support.Item Neglect of the Human Rights Dimension in African IP Policymaking(2015-12-15) Rens, Andrew; Pfumorodze, JimcallIn this thematic report, the authors, both members of the African Scholars for Knowledge Justice (ASK Justice) network, outline the neglect of human rights in IP policymaking; the need to end this neglect, particularly in the African context; and steps to be taken towards this goal.Item Strategic Patenting of Pharmaceutical Inventions and the Public’s Right to Access Medicines: The South African Context(2015-12-15) Hobololo, VuyisilePharmaceutical firms’ use of strategic patenting to influence the markets within which their patented inventions sit is legally questionable. Such patenting entails filing patents with the intention of blocking potential competitors from innovating and/or being granted patents within niche technology areas of interest to the patentee. Under this practice, patentees are potentially able to extend the breadth and duration of their monopoly power in the pharmaceutical market sub-sector within which that invention sits. Such practices take on a clear public interest element if they undermine affordable public access to medicines. This thematic report outlines forms of strategic patenting, analyses the degree to which the South African legal system provides remedies against such patenting, and proposes ways forward for South Africa to prevent such practices.Item Human Capital Barriers to Technological Absorption and Innovation by Ethiopia’s Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs)(2015-12-15) Belete, WondwossenEthiopia’s private sector is dominated by micro and small enterprises (MSEs), many of them operating informally. Accordingly, a key challenge for the country’s science, technology and innovation (STI) policymakers is finding ways to ensure that these small businesses absorb external technological innovations in order to enhance their performance and allow for follow-on innovations. This policy objective has an access to knowledge (A2K) dimension, because Ethiopia’s STI policies and strategies stress the need for improved MSE access to public domain patent information as a means to improving technological absorption. However, research by the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office (EIPO) has found that despite the efforts of the Ethiopian government to foster small-enterprise absorption of public domain technological information contained in patent documents, MSE take-up of such technology tends to be poor (Belete, 2013). In this piece, the author, former EIPO Director of Intellectual Property Policy and Planning, argues that the government’s emphasis needs to be on building human capital in MSEs, in order to improve their capacity to absorb patent information. This argument draws on literature linking technological absorption capacity to human capital levels, along with findings from an Ethiopian government survey of 3,000 MSEs (MUDC, 2013). The author recommends improved MSE collaboration with intermediary organisations such as the country’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions and industry development institutes.Item Open Innovation and Knowledge Appropriation in African Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs)(2015-12-15) De Beer, Jeremy; Armstrong, ChrisThis article seeks enhanced understanding of the dynamics of open innovation and knowledge appropriation in African settings. More specifically, the authors focus on innovation and appropriation dynamics in African micro and small enterprises (MSEs), which are key engines of productivity on the continent. The authors begin by providing an expansion of an emergent conceptual framework for understanding intersections between innovation, openness and knowledge appropriation in African small-enterprise settings. Then, based on this framework, they review evidence generated by five recent case studies looking at knowledge development, sharing and appropriation among groups of small-scale African innovators. The innovators considered in the five studies were found to favour inclusive, collaborative approaches to development of their innovations; to rely on socially-grounded information networks when deploying and sharing their innovations; and to appropriate their innovative knowledge via informal (and, to a lesser extent, semi-formal) appropriation tools.Item Revolution, Graffiti and Copyright: The Cases of Egypt and Tunisia(2015-12-15) Rizk, NaglaDuring and after the Arab uprisings in 2011, there was an outburst of creative production in Egypt and Tunisia, serving as a means to counter state-controlled media and to document alternative narratives of the revolutions. One of the most prominent modes of creative output was graffiti. Within an access to knowledge (A2K) framework that views graffiti as an important knowledge good, this article outlines the author’s findings from research into perspectives towards revolutionary graffiti held by graffiti artists and graffiti consumers in Egypt and Tunisia. The main quest of this work is to identify a copyright regime best suited to the priorities of both the revolutionary graffiti artists and the consumers of this art, cognisant also of the possibilities offered by increasingly widespread use of, and access to, online digital platforms. The research looked at how artists and consumers relate to the revolutionary graffiti, how they feel about its commercialisation, and how they feel about the idea of protecting it with copyright. Based on the research findings, the author concludes that an A2K-enabling approach to preservation and dissemination of the revolutionary graffiti – and an approach that would best cater to the needs of both the artists and the consumers – is provided by the Creative Commons (CC) suite of flexible copyright licences.Item Copyright Legal and Practical Reform for the South African Film Industry(2015-12-15) Flynn, SeanCopyright’s interest in promoting creative production is often described as requiring a “balance” between exclusion and access rights. Owners of copyright receive exclusive rights to control copies of their works, which enables authors to earn returns on their creations through sales or licensing transactions. But as important to promoting creation are the user rights in copyright law which permit building on the work of predecessors. The necessity for balance in order to promote creation is clearly evident in the documentary film industry, where producers rely on copyright ownership to facilitate the dissemination of their works through broadcasters and other distributors, and on user rights to incorporate excerpts of other copyrighted material in their work. This article draws on a collaborative South African research project that has been working since 2008 to document influences of copyright law on the production of documentary films. The results of that research, summarised in the first part of the article, show that South African filmmakers are hampered by a legal environment that denies them copyright ownership in the majority of their projects while also denying them adequate rights to use, in their own works, elements of the works of others. The second part of the article describes capacity-building approaches and legal reforms that could be advantageous to the local film industry.Item Licensing Open Data in Developing Countries: The Case of the Kenyan and City of Cape Town Open Data Initiatives(2015-12-15) Willmers, Michelle; Van Schalkwyk, François; Schonwetter, TobiasOpen data practice is gaining momentum in the public sector and civil society as an important mechanism for sharing information, aiding transparency, and promoting socio-economic development. Within this context, licensing is a key legal mechanism that enables re-use without sanction. However, there is evidence of a “licensing deficit” and this raises questions regarding best practice and sustainability in emerging African open data initiatives, particularly in the context of intermediaries being encouraged to exploit shared data for economic and social benefit. This article asks two main questions: (1) What is the current state of open licensing in two African open data initiatives; and (2) to what degree is it appropriate to focus on licensing as a key indicator of openness? Utilising a case study approach, the research explored licensing dynamics in the Kenya Open Data and the City of Cape Town Open Data initiatives, examining the contexts in which these initiatives were established and their resulting licensing frameworks. The cases reveal evidence of strategic engagement with content licensing, driven largely by the need for legal protection, adherence to international best practice and attraction of the user base required in order to ensure sustainability. The application of licensing systems in both contexts does, however, suggest an emerging system in which data providers are “learning by doing” and evolving their licensing practice as portals and their associated policy frameworks mature. The paper discusses the value of open data licensing as an indicator of organisational change and concomitant importance of taking into consideration the institutional dynamics when evaluating the organisational licensing frameworks of city, national and other governments.Item Farmers’ and Breeders’ Rights: Bridging Access to, and IP Protection of, Plant Varieties in Africa(2015-12-15) Munyi, Peter; De Jonge, BramStudies in Africa have shown that saving, using, exchanging and selling farm-saved seed is the main channel through which farmers access seed and planting material. Moreover, these saving and related practices are recognised in international law, mainly through the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Plant Treaty), which many African countries have ratified. These practices are also recognised by, inter alia, obligations at the national level to protect traditional knowledge relevant to seeds and planting material. The standard being employed in developing plant variety protection (PVP) mechanisms in Africa, as with elsewhere in the world, is the 1991 revision of the Convention of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV, 1991). This Convention has, since its inception, been developed with reference to developed-world farming practices. This article looks at how farmers’ rights are enshrined in Africa’s legal frameworks, and the extent to which the current process of developing regional PVP systems on the continent is taking farmers’ rights into account. The article then makes recommendations on how a balance can be struck between farmers’ and breeders’ rights, while still complying with the UPOV 1991 framework.Item Current African Intersections Between Intellectual Property Rights and Knowledge Access(2015-12-15) Armstrong, Chris; Schonwetter, TobiasIn this introductory article, the two Guest Editors of this 2015 thematic issue of The African Journal of Information and Communication (AJIC) – a thematic issue focused on the theme of “African Intersections between Intellectual Property Rights and Knowledge Access” – provide practical and conceptual context for the articles and thematic reports that follow.Item AJIC Issue 16, 2015 - Full Issue(2015-12-15)AJIC thematic issue focused on "African Intersections between Intellectual Property Rights and Knowledge Access".