Foreigners stealing Ugandan innovations
Oct 09, 2014
Failure by Ugandan academics to acquire intellectual property rights over their innovations and research findings has left a loophole.
By Innocent Anguyo
Failure by Ugandan academics to acquire intellectual property rights over their innovations and research findings has left a loophole which foreign researchers are taking advantage of to steal knowledge.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) defines intellectual property rights as the rights given to persons over the creations of their minds. They usually give the creator an exclusive right over the use of his/her creation for a certain period of time.
Prof. Mukadasi Buyinza, the Makerere University Director of Research and Graduate Training said most Ugandan researchers had not acquired legal protection for their innovations, making them susceptible to piracy.
He attributed the failure of scores of Ugandan researchers to protect their innovations to ignorance about the procedure of acquiring intellectual property rights.
“We are doing quality research and producing ground breaking innovations but we end up sharing it with the world before taking it through the protection protocol,” Buyinza said.
Buyinza made the remarks at the annual review meeting of the research cooperation between Makerere University and the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).
Although the WTO says “a functioning intellectual property regime should also facilitate the transfer of technology in the form of foreign direct investment, joint ventures and licensing”, Buyinza was quick to note that many foreign researchers had not given credit to Ugandan dons on patents over joint innovations.
He said some Ugandan researchers also sell their innovations to foreigners for peanuts, without considering how much they would rake in if they acquired rights over their intellectual properties.
“At times some of these foreign researchers use our local researchers to conduct studies and only pay them small per diem,” revealed Buyinza.
According to Buyinza, only 20% of all innovations and research output at Makerere University is patented, leaving about 80% of institution’s intellectual property susceptible to piracy.
Dons, Buyinza noted would not reap the financial benefits of their research unless they patented their intellectual properties.
“Our research income as a country largely remains low because our research output is not commercialized and you can only do this if the output is patented,” argued Buyinza.
WTO divides Intellectual property rights into two main areas including Copyright and Industrial property.
“The rights of authors of literary and artistic works are protected by copyright, for a minimum period of 50 years after the death of the author.
Also protected through copyright are the rights of performers, producers of sound recordings and broadcasting organizations. The main social purpose of protection of copyright and related rights is to encourage and reward creative work.”
WTO divides industrial property into two main areas: “One area can be characterized as the protection of distinctive signs, in particular trademarks and geographical indications.”
“The protection of such distinctive signs aims to stimulate and ensure fair competition and to protect consumers, by enabling them to make informed choices between various goods and services. The protection may last indefinitely, provided the sign in question continues to be distinctive.
Other types of industrial property are protected primarily to stimulate innovation, design and the creation of technology. In this category fall inventions (protected by patents), industrial designs and trade secrets.
The social purpose is to provide protection for the results of investment in the development of new technology, thus giving the incentive and means to finance research and development activities.”
The intellectual property protocol follows four steps. An innovation must first be approved by the institutional review board which subsequently recommends it to the Board of Research and Publication- both at the University level.
The innovation is then looked at by the International Review Board at the National Council for Science and Technology, which recommends it to the Registration Bureau that eventually issues a license.
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