Strathmore University Centre for IP and It Law (CIPIT)

06/05/2026

Register👉🏽 bit.ly/4sE4Wef
From Tanzania’s sector-focused approach to AI in education and healthcare, to Uganda shaping its national AI strategy, and Kenya’s new AI Bill sparking debate, one thing is clear: AI governance across the region is not one-size-fits-all.
💡 Are policies grounded in real use cases?
💡 Are we regulating what exists or.... what we imagine?

Join us this Friday as we unpack the realities behind AI regulation in East Africa.
🗓️Friday, May 8, 2026
⏰11:00am - 12:30pm EAT
Register👉🏽 bit.ly/4sE4Wef

01/05/2026

01/05/2026

Today, we celebrate every hand that builds, serves, creates, teaches, heals, and keeps the world moving.

Thank you for the work you do; seen and unseen.

Happy Labour Day!

30/04/2026

Sports intersect very closely with Intellectual Property mainly by leveraging the use of brand names, sale of broadcast rights.

30/04/2026

29/04/2026

A new report by Open Future Foundation, spotlights the Nwulite Obodo Open Data License (NOODL) as response to the limitations of traditional open licensing models where equal access can still lead to unequal outcomes. Highlighting our work on the licensing of African language datasets, the report explores how NOODL reimagines open licensing through a tiered model that promotes equity.

Read report 👉🏽https://openfuture.eu/publication/noodl-an-experiment-in-equitable-data-licensing-promise-and-limits/

29/04/2026

CIPIT will be at 2026 in Lusaka, Zambia🇿🇲

From 5th to 7th May 2026, our team will join global leaders, policymakers, researchers, and civil society actors shaping the future of digital rights, technology, and governance.
Register👉🏽 https://www.rightscon.org/registration/

Our sessions will be as follows;
📍 Lightning Talk:
Wednesday, May 6, 2027 | 1:45PM - 2:45PM EAT | Room: BANQUET 2
🔹 Law, Policy, and the Future of Inclusive Assistive Technology in Africa
We’ll examine the intersection of law, policy, and emerging technologies in shaping accessible digital environments. This session highlights the need for inclusive regulatory frameworks that ensure assistive technologies are not only available, but affordable, adaptable, and responsive to the needs of persons with disabilities across the continent.

📍 Dialogue
Thursday, May 7, 2027 | 11:15AM – 12:15PM EAT
🔹 Owning Our Words: Licensing African Language Datasets for Preservation and Reciprocity
This session will explore the growing importance of African language datasets in AI development, focusing on questions of ownership, ethical licensing, and equitable benefit-sharing. As demand for localized AI grows, how do we ensure communities retain control over their linguistic and cultural resources while still enabling innovation?

📍 Satellite Event
Tuesday, May 5, 2026 | 10:00AM – 2:30PM EAT | Room AG05 (Kenneth Kaunda Wing), Mulungushi International Conference Centre
🔹 As part of the D4D Joint Dissemination Workshop, CIPIT, in collaboration with Research ICT Africa and Local Development Research Institute, will present findings from the Data for Development Consortium Project, a two-year initiative aimed at advancing the governance of data for development in Africa and operationalising the African Union Data Policy Framework (AUDPF). The workshop will engage regulators, policymakers, and practitioners on questions around economic growth, data rights, and democratic governance in a data-driven society. Drawing from our research, the session will explore how these insights can inform practical regulatory, legislative, and policy interventions, while strengthening institutional capacity to govern data in the public interest across the continent.
Register - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1b_hDiqhaJLYwl2W9q6rhcJWW_-hQnmY27tpvuPPeDf0/viewform?edit_requested=true
More info - https://researchictafrica.net/2026/04/22/data-for-development-d4d-dissemination-workshop/

28/04/2026

Happy 2026!! 🎉
👉🏽https://youtu.be/r8Qv2KRZMbU?si=mM5r4oGPusakQT0j
World Intellectual Property Day 2026 celebrates how creativity and innovation, backed by IP rights, keep the world of sports thriving, dynamic and accessible for everyone, everywhere.

In the sports ecosystem, IP protects the ideas, creativity, and innovation that make sports what they are today.

🔹 Trademarks protect the identity of teams, leagues, and events. This includes names, logos, colours, and slogans; the things fans easily recognise and connect with. They help teams and organisations build brands, attract sponsors, and create commercial value.
🔹 Patents protect new inventions and technologies in sports. This can include performance-enhancing equipment, innovative sportswear, and technologies like VAR and goal-line systems. These protections encourage people to keep creating solutions that make sports safer, faster, and more accurate.
🔹 Copyright protects the creative side of sports. This includes live broadcasts, commentary, photography, music, and documentaries. It ensures that the people who capture and share these moments can benefit from their work, while also preserving important sporting memories.
🔹 Industrial designs protect how sports products look. This includes the visual appearance of jerseys, footwear, and equipment. It is what makes products not only functional, but also visually unique and appealing.
🔹 Trade secrets protect confidential information that gives teams a competitive edge. This includes training methods, performance strategies, and game tactics that teams choose to keep private.
🔹 Image and personality rights protect athletes themselves; their name, likeness, voice, and even signature celebrations. This allows them to control how they are represented and to benefit from their personal brand.

These rights protect and make it possible for ideas to grow into opportunities, for creativity to be rewarded, and for the people behind sports to keep innovating and pushing the game forward.

23/04/2026

There is growing global recognition that products are defined not only by what they are, but also by where they originate. In Kenya, products such as coffee, tea, honey, rice, soapstone, and traditional crafts carry distinct qualities, reputations, and cultural significance tied to their geographic origin.

The proposed Geographical Indications Bill, 2026 seeks to introduce a system that formally links products to their places of origin, offering legal protection and strengthening producers’ positions in both local and international markets. This marks an important development in Kenya’s intellectual property landscape and raises key questions around ownership, enforcement, and the commercialisation of place-based products.

On Monday, 27 April 2026, we will take a closer look at Kenya’s Geographical Indications Bill, 2026. Join us 👉🏽 bit.ly/4vX2iDo

🗓️ Date: Monday, 27 April 2026
⏰ Time: 11:00am - 12:00pm EAT
🔗 Register: bit.ly/4vX2iDo

20/04/2026

..… you don’t want to miss this one 👀
Tune in to this Wednesday & Thursday for a replay of our latest episode 👉🏽https://radio.strathmore.edu/

📻 Catch us live: Wednesday, 22 April 2026 From 10:00AM - 11:00AM
📻 Catch us live: Thursday, 23 April 2026 From 4:00pm to 5:00PM

Host, Josephine Kaaniru is joined by Mr. Kevin Mutiso, Chair of the Digital Financial Services Association of Kenya (DFSAK), to explore how the digital lending industry has evolved in its approach to privacy, particularly following the enforcement of the Data Protection Act.

With just a smartphone and an ID, Kenyans can access loans in minutes, no collateral, no bank branch, no guarantor needed. This convenience has made digital lending apps central to Kenya’s financial inclusion story. By some estimates, about 14% of Kenyan adults had taken a digital loan by 2019. However, this accessibility has also raised important questions around how personal data is collected, used, and protected.

To assess creditworthiness, many digital lenders rely on a range of data points, including income patterns, contacts, SMS messages, location history, browsing behaviour, and, in some cases, call log data. While these practices have supported rapid credit decisions, they have also prompted greater scrutiny and, more recently, regulatory and industry-led efforts to strengthen data protection and transparency.

As such, the conversation with Mr Kevin Mutiso reflects on how far the industry has come, and what still needs to change before Kenyan borrowers can access credit without compromising their privacy.

Listen to the latest episode of The Friendly Troll on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you listen to your podcasts

13/04/2026

Chebet Koros contributed to a panel at the stakeholder breakfast on “Kenya in the Global and Regional Green Economy.”

The discussion brought together diverse stakeholders to explore Kenya’s strategic engagement within regional and global systems, including the AfCFTA, and the implications for green industrial development and technology transfer.
Her contribution centred on the role of IP)frameworks in shaping Kenya’s green technology landscape. She highlighted how global IP regimes influence the country’s ability to access, adapt, and scale green technologies, and the importance of leveraging available flexibilities to support local innovation.

EED Advisory | APRI - Africa Policy Research Institute