Govt unveils guidelines to protect local innovations

The Ministry of ICT and National Guidance has unveiled the intellectual property (IP) toolkit that provides guidelines for the effective creation, development, and protection of innovations in Uganda.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, Dr Aminah Zawedde, together with partner agencies unveiled the IP toolkit at the National Intellectual Property Conference in Kampala on Wednesday.
Intellectual property (IP) rights is where an innovator or creator is granted exclusive rights to exploit and benefit from his/her creation. IP rights include patents, trademarks, and copyrights.

In her remarks, Dr Zawedde said the toolkit, which was developed by ministry IT experts in collaboration with the Information Communication Technology Association of Uganda (ICTAU), is a clear testimony of the government's commitment to promote and protect innovation in the country.

“In Uganda, we do innovate and create. But the problem is that when we have ideas, people come and snatch them away from us and make a lot of money out of that and forget about us or don’t even recognize us for what was taken away from us. So, creating awareness over intellectual property is very key and fortunate for us to grow our economy to grow our recognition,” she said.
The one-day IP conference is themed ‘Harnessing Intellectual Property Conference in the Digital Era to Advance Gender Equality.’

Dr Zawedde explained that Uganda is at a rating of 33 percent in terms of skilling and 42 percent in terms of innovation but stressed that more needs to be done to bring more Ugandan entrepreneurs into the digital space.
“Without digitalisation, intellectual property cannot thrive because most of the innovations are driven along technology, yes they are driven along knowledge creation, or imagination, content creation, but the media of operation is usually technology,” she said.

“We have the right policies, we have the regulatory regulations, we have the rules, but enforcement is our weakness. We have done and created a lot of innovation, the innovation hubs. The National ICT Innovation Hub is only one of those centres or spaces where innovators have been qualified,” she added.

Ms Mercy Kainobwisho, the Registrar General of the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB), the government agency responsible for managing IP, said the rights are fully integrated in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and urged Ugandan innovators to safeguard their IP rights.
Ms Kainobwisho said IP rights in Uganda are protected under the National Intellectual Property policy of 2019, which will soon be amended to tailor it to the latest regional and international IP frameworks.

She said the National Intellectual Property Office at USRB is mandated to register that all intellectual property in Uganda and also comes in at the stage of protection where there is infringement.
“So we hold registers that relate to every intellectual property that has been registered in Uganda. So if you have not made any effort to register your intellectual property do not expect it on the registers of government unless somebody did it on your behalf or stole your idea, and went and registered. And the law is very clear that it favours the person who is registered, the Certificate of Registration is always conclusive evidence of ownership unless otherwise,” she stressed.

She said intellectual property is divided into two main categories; copyright on one arm and industrial property on the other.
“And many people sometimes confuse these categories, others call copyright patents or trademarks and so on. And I believe that through these initiatives, you can make time and just read about these different categories and there are also online courses that simplify this language,” she said.
 
 
Mr Gideon Nkurunungi, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ICTAU, described the IP conference as a new era in innovation for Uganda.
“We are positioning creatives, people who are building new tools to make sure that they are positioned on the international stage. This is a launch of technocrats to start building the next ChatGPT to start knowing there is a way they can assemble various tools together that are being used by various innovators in different parts of the world to make revenue out of it. Copyright is a means to the end,” he said.

“So we are calling upon all stakeholders in the ICT and technology space to utilise the opportunities that the Ministry of ICT has created,” he added.
The IP conference was attended by experts, several innovators and MPs on the Parliamentary Committee on ICT.