[kictanet] Reverse engineering - or patent infringement?

Tue Feb 9 09:47:18 EAT 2010

Good morning all,

I didn't refer to Prof. Kamau, I referred to the statement of Dr Ndemo,
which he kindly qualified. I am aware of the debate of generic drugs and the
arguments made that the public good should override patent rights. But this
is, as I'm sure everyone is also aware of, a complex topic, with an equally
complex international legal framework, and as much as it's easy to hate big
pharma, I think some recognition needs to be given to companies that invest
heavily in R&D.

In the Kenyan debate specifically, I would find it counterproductive if
senior government officials openly call for patent right infringements (and
again, Dr Ndemo did qualify his statement). Apart from the fact that I'd
rather like to see innovation encouraged, it does nothing for Kenya's image
towards international ICT and tech investors or people looking to outsource
processes. Copy right and patent infringement and intellectual property
right theft was and is a big concern in China, and Kenya has none of the
advantages that China offers to offset these: very low-cost manufacturing
environment and a huge domestic market. It's a bit of a contradiction to
call for e.g. certifications etc to build international credibility, and
then offset it with a signal like this.

On the IPad specificially: I doubt that Kenyan companies, even if they
managed to copy the IPad, would be able to build it at a lower cost, and the
way the education sector is run now, they'd be stolen just as quickly as any
book - probably faster. I went to the Intel Classmate launch a couple of
years ago and they made a useful point that just handing out kiddie laptops
is not the solution: You need the whole ecosystem to make them productive.
Electricity, connectivity, a place to lock them up, and importantly a
teaching plan that they are integrated into.

Have a lovely day,
Andrea

On 9 February 2010 09:07, Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com> wrote:

> @Andrea,
>
> Reverse engineering - or patent infringement?
>
> If I was Prof. Kamau, I would carefully ride on both - depending on the
> convenience of the laws applicable and the demand for public good. Draw the
> parallel with generic HIV medicines...
>
> walu.
>
> --- On *Tue, 2/9/10, Andrea Bohnstedt <andrea.bohnstedt at ratio-magazine.com
> >* wrote:
>
>
> From: Andrea Bohnstedt <andrea.bohnstedt at ratio-magazine.com>
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Getting a hold on cybercrime against women (cyber
> pests!)
> To: jwalu at yahoo.com
> Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Date: Tuesday, February 9, 2010, 12:40 AM
>
> Reverse engineering - or patent infringement?
>
> On 8 February 2010 21:01, <bitange at jambo.co.ke<http://mc/[email protected]>
> > wrote:
>
>> Dear listers,
>> Prof. Kamau, University of Nairobi's engineering school has successifully
>> reverse engineered the converter box for digital TV.  Those willing to visit
>> the fab lab next week should register with Awiti in my office.  His e-mail
>> is nawiti at information.go.ke<http://mc/[email protected]>
>> .
>>
>> I am hoping soon we can reverse engineer the ipad so that we can use it to
>> distribute e-books to all kids in the country and avoid this theft of
>> textbooks.
>>
>> Regards.
>>
>> Ndemo.
>> Sent from my BlackBerry®
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: "muriuki mureithi" <mureithi at summitstrategies.co.ke<http://mc/[email protected]>
>> >
>> Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2010 18:14:20
>> To: <bitange at jambo.co.ke <http://mc/[email protected]>>
>> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<http://mc/[email protected]>
>> >
>> Subject: [kictanet] Getting a hold on cybercrime against women (cyber
>> pests!)
>>
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-- 
Andrea Bohnstedt
Publisher
+254 720 960 322
www.ratio-magazine.com
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