Otafire tells Ugandans to turn ideas into business

Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Kahinda Otafire has told Ugandans to take advantage of the current legal regime to turn ideas into assets and businesses that generate income and taxes.

Speaking at the launch of a book Capacity building for sustainable academic and nonfiction authorship in Africa, at the weekend, Mr Otafire said in a speech read by Bemanya Twebaze, the registrar general, said Ugandans should take advantage of the 2006 Copy Right and Neighboring Rights Act to protect their intellectual property and turn idea into tangible assets instead of gossiping.
“Today more than ever before, the most important thing is innovation. How do you turn ideas of today into assets of tomorrow? Get your ideas and put them into a book which becomes an asset,” said, adding that the Copy Right and Neighboring Rights Act provides for proper intellectual property management and protection urging Ugandans to take advantage of the digital age and internet communication to make money.

Asked how ideas are protected, Mr Bemanya said this is done through fighting piracy and the police has created the Intellectual Property Enforcement Unit that has so far arrested a number of pirates and convicted them.
“It is an uphill task but so far we have arrested some people who have been convicted. We are the department that is mandated to protect Intellectual Property of Ugandans,” he said. Last Friday, authors under the Uganda Text Book Academic and Non Fiction Authors Association launched a book which will provide authors with a direction to revamp the publishing sector.

According to Prof Elisam Magara the chairperson of the association, publishers have been working in a challenging landscape with limited enforcement of laws.

He said that the legal framework to protect authors has been weak because it has been difficult to prove infringement, adding that the rate at which technology keeps changing is another challenge .
they face because most books now are sold online but having the books there is another challenge.

According to Prof Magara publishers have to move with technology to produce books that will make learning interesting.
There are many things we do not know but we have to ensure that we keep learning,” he said

TECHNOLOGY
According to Prof Magara publishers have to move with technology to produce books that will make learning interesting.