Don’t just develop, protect your intellectual property too

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Wednesday, January 21, 2015 17:41 January 21, 2015

Kamau Ndung’u and his brother Kuria (right), founders of m-ledger application. PHOTO |
FILE

Kuria Ndung’u and his brother Kamau of Dynamic Data Systems are one of
the more recent success stories that mobile developers can relate to.

The duo created M-ledger, a personal financial management app which keeps
track of transactions made through M-Pesa. The application, which has since
been acquired in part by telecom firm Safaricom, analyses M-Pesa
transactions and displays them in various formats, including how much
money was sent daily, monthly or even yearly.

The app can also tabulate a user’s transactions in a graph and inform you of
the recipient of the money, including paybills and till numbers.

The sibling’s journey started at the November 2013 Safaricom Appwiz

Challenge. Their partnership with the country’s leading mobile phone
operator was not difficult since they had built rapport with the firm’s
innovation department.

“At the time we had registered a trademark, but we really did not think much
about protecting our intellectual property because they (Safaricom) had
played a great role in facilitating our startup,” Mr Kuria told Digital Business
on Monday.
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Mobile application developers and innovators can only grow their startups to
a certain extent because of the limited access to capital, he said, adding that
young developers should not be afraid to partner with more established
players in the market who have funds to grow their innovations.

Access to capital

“Mobile app developers need to build their products and services with a five-
year exit plan in mind, all this while looking for different ways of monetising
their intellectual property,” Mr Kuria said.

His younger brother agreed, saying that protecting intellectual property will
help young startups maximise returns. Mr Timothy Mukoba, the head of
software at Sytech Limited, said that securing intellectual property comes in
handy when conflicts arise over similar products.

Such disagreements have in the past played out on the local and global
arenas, especially between Samsung and Apple who have on several occasions
accused each other of copying mobile phone designs.

“An innovator can have a general idea of what service they want to develop
which may be similar to what other people have, but the algorithm that one
uses to build it is particular,” said Mr Mukoba.

“The developer therefore has to differentiate their innovations from other

products that may already be in the market,” he said.

Mr Mukoba told Digital Business that he and his colleagues had not taken
protection of intellectual property seriously until a workmate stole their
source code (computer instructions) and sold it. A similar incident, he said,
befell a friend had fortunately acquired copyright for his innovation. The
culprit had no option but to agree to pay a certain amount of money from
proceeds arising from the product, Mr Mukoba said.

The two cases show the need for developers and innovators to protect their
intellectual property through copyright, trademarks and patents.

Source codes and processes through which developers come up with products
can be patented, while a copyright can be acquired to protect the actual
software that has been developed.

Ms Hellen Koki, a deputy legal counsel with the Kenya Copyright Board
(Kecobo), told Digital Business that individuals cannot register ideas as
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copyrights since people can have similar ideas.

Financial benefits

They can, however, register audiovisual recordings, literary works, artistic

impressions and software.

“Registering your software will only cost you Sh1,000 and you would just need
to supply the board with copies of it and an explanation of how it works. We
still do not have many young innovators coming up to protect their software
and applications,” she said.

Ms Koki said that while proof of originality is required, developers can choose
to keep one or two elements of their works as trade secrets.

Monetise their creations

“Copyright owners can monetise their intellectual property and benefit

financially from the licensing model and service agreement.

“If there is a copyright infringement we can pursue it as a criminal case or a

civil case, if the owner of the rights wants to claim damages from the
infringement,” she said.

Kecobo also has a dispute resolution mechanism which brings parties together
in a bid to enable them agree to certain terms.

Mr Sylance Sange, the Kenya Industrial Property Institute (Kipi) MD, said
that developers also have a right to register their mobile applications and
software as intellectual property since their functional aspects can be
protected by patents.
Kipi registers all trademarks, patents and industrial properties in the country.

“Protection gives the owner rights to be associated with the innovation and
enjoy the financial benefits that come out of it. You can also make money by
selling off or leasing the patent rights for a short time while having a
trademark will enable people to associate a particular logo with your
business,” he said.

schao@ke.nationmedia.com

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