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reaping the benefits.
Last year alone Samsung reported a whopping 56,06 trillion won (US$52,4 billion) in revenue, along with 8.84 trillion won (US$8,27 billion) in operating profit.
Evan Fox of the Political and Economic Affairs in the US Embassy in Harare, speaking at a seminar he facilitated at the US Embassy Public Affairs Section on Tuesday, said that the US has reaped a lot worldwide by protecting copyright laws.
“Steve Jobs, the late Apple Computer founder, had 323 patents for everything from software to computer housings to power adapters.
“The first patent in the US was issued on July 31 1790 to Samuel Hopkins, and it was for a process of making potash. The patent was signed by President George Washington,” he said.
Quoting a White House statement (2009), he said: “Intellectual property is to the digital age what physical goods were to the industrial age.
“We must ensure that intellectual property is protected in foreign markets and promote greater co-operation on international standards that allow our technologies to compete everywhere.”
But as the world celebrated Intellectual Property Rights Day last Friday (April 26), in Zimbabwe there was no noise at all.
Silence.
After all no one has benefited from it. Countries such as South Korea protected their local products such as those from Samsung, as the companies developed their products. Samsung’s phones and home appliances were not necessarily new inventions, but developments on existing products such as Nokia.
When they could meet world standards, these products, such as the world-conquering Samsung Galaxy S3, were registered as patents in other countries and now South Korea is reaping large benefits from this approach.
But the same cannot be said of Zimbabwe, such that the country has been unable to make its own inventions, but imports at high costs.
The country watches on indifferently while millions of dollars seep away, just like a famished calf that gazes on in stupefaction as milk trickles from its mother’s tits and forms miniature labyrinths on the ground.
Although there are organisations that deal with intellectual property such as the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (Aripo) and the Intellectual Property Department in the Ministry of Justice, awareness of intellectual property is ridiculously low.
Intellectual property is divided into two categories: industrial property and copyright. Copyright includes the whole gamut of literary and artistic creations and grants artists protection for their works.
Industrial property comprises patents of invention, geographical indications, trademarks and industrial designs.
University of Zimbabwe law lecturer Mr Moses Nkomo says Zimbabwe has enough laws to protect Intellectual Property Rights, but the challenge is enforcement.
“We have enough laws here in Zimbabwe. Furthermore, Zimbabwe is a signatory to the TRIPS Agreement, and Section 41-61 makes it mandatory for countries to provide judicial and administrative infrastructure to protect intellectual property rights,” he said.
In the Zimbabwean Constitution Chapter 26 guarantees protection of intellectual rights. Chapter 26:03 is the Patents Act, Chapter 26:04 is the Trade Mark Act, Chapter 26:02 (Industrial Designs Act), Chapter 26:06 (Geographical Indications) Chapter 26:06 (Geographical Indications), Chapter 26:07 (Integrated Circuit Layout Design) while artistic creations are protected under Chapter 26:08 (Copyright and Neighbouring Act)
However, this cocktail of laws is no good, it’s just as good as a well-fuelled chopper to a man about to bleed to death at his home but no pilot to rush him to hospital.
Patents are any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof and patent rights are valid for 20 years from the day of filing, though this can be renewed.
Sarah Mpofu, an intellectual property lawyer, says that Zimbabwe has no competencies to register patents.
“In Zimbabwe when clients approach us to register patents, we only do the initial paperwork and then contract South African agents to do it for us.
“We cannot do it locally,” Mpofu said.
And the costs of registering a patent are so inhibitive.
“It costs between US$300 to US$5 000 to register a patent,” said Mpofu.
And astonishingly, only 15 Zimbabweans filed patents last year and 13 foreign-owned companies filed theirs. This means no law firm can sustain itself solely on intellectual property business.
Failure to protect intellectual property rights greatly hampers scientific inventions or new pharmaceutical drugs manufacture in a country.
Munya Chiura from Computer Troubleshooters says there was need for Zimbabwe to stop looking at artistic creations as culture, but as money.
“Intellectual property is money. If it’s Google you are talking of billions of dollars.
“We need to make sure we protect intellectual property and that way we can realise millions of dollars.
“Investors will only plough in their funds if there is protection of patents, so we are losing a lot because of this situation,” he said.
Mr Nkomo says that there is a high level of ignorance of intellectual property rights in Zimbabwe is quite alarming.
“There was a case where there had been a case of copyright infringement, yet it was written by the police officer on the docket as ‘piracy of copyright’”. Therefore, if law enforcers themselves are not aware of the crimes that they are supposed to police, how can they be effective?”
He said it was the rights holders themselves who were supposed to make noise to influence policy-makers and also to ensure that enforcement was done.
“The people who should be driving for their intellectual property rights to be observed are artistes and business themselves because they are the owners of the rights.
“They should maintain surveillance for infringement of these rights and report it to the police.
“Hollywood funded the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which was passed by US Congress on October 12 1998 to ensure that new media technology such as the internet, which was not covered previously, would be taken into account,” Nkomo said.
He said that there was need for artists themselves to lobby Government to enforce copyright laws.
“The state of the law is determined by the agitation of the rights holders. Rights holders should capacitate police, magistrates and prosecutors through raising awareness on intellectual property, to be on the lookout for copyright or patent infringement. Even customs officials should be trained to identify counterfeit goods at ports of entry,” Nkomo said.
In Zambia the artists and business lobbied government until the police formed the Zambia Police Intellectual Property Unit (IPU). The Unit uses the Copyright and Performance Rights Act No. 44 of 1994 (CAP 406) in its daily operations.
However, the IPU works in a reactionary role, that is, the IPU only institute enforcement procedures when there is a complaint filed by the right owner.
Thus in Zimbabwe filmmakers and musicians, who seem to have given up on the battle against piracy, should up the ante and lobby for stiffer penalties on offenders.
And with the “Buy Zimbabwe” campaign gaining ground, one only hopes the country will shift its focus to protecting intellectual rights and protecting home-grown solutions, in the process ensuring the proliferation of home-grown brands.
And maybe the curricula, from primary school, could include copyright and patent rights and the need to promote genuine home brands. The time is now.
Online Reporter