It is sad that where a junior employee is innovative, the dynamics of getting their intellect rewarded (either by promotion or remuneration) are complex, especially in the public sector. <br>And the bigger issue is that the Government and employers generally need to have policies for IP generated by employees. All the same, this ought to be settled out of court.<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">2012/11/20 Phares Kariuki <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:pkariuki@gmail.com" target="_blank">pkariuki@gmail.com</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<font color="#000066"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Perhaps I misread the articles (there are two of them), but it seems that the KRA commissioners wanted to tender for a system that was internally available (the innovator simply wanted to secure his employment). They effectively wanted to tender for the system that the employee had developed (and KRA won an award for deployment) whilst using IP from the employee, effectively paying a third party for the employees initial innovation. </font></font>
<div><font color="#000066"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br></font></font></div><div><font color="#000066"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">If someone is to get paid for the innovation (given that now KRA suddenly had the budget to pay for the system), it's only fair that the person who built the system gets remunerated for the system instead of a predatory third party and I think that's why the employee sued. The email excerpts are rather revealing, there was mischief afoot. </font></font></div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="h5">On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 4:43 PM, Baiju Shah <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:baiju@tele2media.com" target="_blank">baiju@tele2media.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div class="h5"><div link="blue" vlink="purple" lang="EN-GB"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Hi Ali/Grace,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">We should not forget that KRA provided platform and the time for Samson to develop the innovation. Here is the case of shared IPR and Samson needs to be rewarded by KRA in light of the exceptional work he undertook and also given the right recognition. This sort of issue should have been managed by the Human Resources department properly, it is really a shame that it has gone to the courts, it is a serious loss of momentum for both the parties involved.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Best Regards,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Baiju Shah<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Managing Partner<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Telemedia Africa.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US"> kictanet [mailto:<a href="mailto:kictanet-bounces%2Bbaiju" target="_blank">kictanet-bounces+baiju</a>=<a href="mailto:tele2media.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">tele2media.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Ali Hussein<br>
<b>Sent:</b> 20 November 2012 14:26<br><b>To:</b> Baiju Shah<br><b>Cc:</b> <a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [kictanet] Dreams of a cosy career that turned into a nightmare<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Grace<br><br>I guess that's the question the courts will answer as I believe this has already been taken up by lawyers for Samson. <br>
<br><a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/Features/smartcompany/Dreams-of-a-cosy-career/-/1226/1623712/-/qdkj18z/-/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.nation.co.ke/Features/smartcompany/Dreams-of-a-cosy-career/-/1226/1623712/-/qdkj18z/-/index.html</a><br>
<br>I think though the bigger question is how are we preparing our young brilliant minds for the rough and tumble of starting and building sustainable businesses? <br><br clear="all"></span><u></u><u></u></p><p style="margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">
<b><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Baskerville Old Face","serif"">Ali Hussein</span></b><u></u><u></u></p><p style="margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:13.5pt"> </span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Baskerville Old Face","serif"">Twitter: @AliHKassim</span><u></u><u></u></p><p style="margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Baskerville Old Face","serif"">Skype: abu-jomo</span><u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><br><br><u></u><u></u></p><div><p class="MsoNormal">
On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 12:37 PM, Grace Githaiga <<a href="mailto:ggithaiga@hotmail.com" target="_blank">ggithaiga@hotmail.com</a>> wrote:<u></u><u></u></p><div><div><div><p style="margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:18.0pt">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:#333333">Ali<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:18.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:#333333">Does the innovation belong to the employer considering it may have been developed to suit the needs of the employer? This might be open to various interpretations by different lawyers. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:18.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:#333333"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p style="margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:18.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:#333333">This caught my attention:<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:18.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:#333333">"According to the letter, KRA has used the technovation and communicated it to a third party, although the law states that this entitles the technovator to “a remuneration which shall be fixed by mutual agreement between the technovator and the enterprise.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div><div><p style="margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:18.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:#333333">This is because KRA went ahead to submit the system to an international innovation fair, where it won an award. It has since publicised the award, even on its website".<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:18.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:#333333"><a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/Features/smartcompany/KRA-caught-up-in-Sh1-billion-tender-row/-/1226/1623708/-/item/2/-/rpgfcm/-/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.nation.co.ke/Features/smartcompany/KRA-caught-up-in-Sh1-billion-tender-row/-/1226/1623708/-/item/2/-/rpgfcm/-/index.html</a></span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:#333333"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:18.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:#333333"><u></u> <u></u></span></p></div><div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><hr align="center" size="2" width="100%">
</div><p class="MsoNormal">From: <a href="mailto:ali@hussein.me.ke" target="_blank">ali@hussein.me.ke</a><br>Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2012 09:58:01 +0300<br>Subject: [kictanet] Dreams of a cosy career that turned into a nightmare<br>
CC: <a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a><br>To: <a href="mailto:ggithaiga@hotmail.com" target="_blank">ggithaiga@hotmail.com</a><u></u><u></u></p><div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt">
<u></u> <u></u></p><div><p class="MsoNormal">Listers<u></u><u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">This is an interesting case study of the link between employer/employee relations on Intellectual Property. Who owns the IP when you invent/innovate while working at a company and the invention/innovation is directly linked to the work you have been hired to do?<u></u><u></u></p>
</div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p></div><div><p style="text-align:-webkit-auto"><b>IN SUMMARY<u></u><u></u></b></p><div><ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:-webkit-auto">When Mr Samson Ngengi beat thousands of applicants to land the coveted position at the tax agency in December 2009, the graduate of Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology (JKUAT) had one thing on his mind; to ensure that he gets absorbed into the job<u></u><u></u></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:-webkit-auto">Mr Ngengi came up with an innovation that links plot boundaries and location, ownership, and building details as well as tax status of a taxpayer as a single view in a computer application, in an effort to give KRA an insight into how to get its pound of flesh from the lucrative real estate sector<u></u><u></u></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:-webkit-auto">His innovation was named the Geo-spatial Revenue Collection Information System (GEOCRIS). But little did he know that he would, early in his career, find himself fighting his employer<u></u><u></u></li>
</ul><div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Is there a strong case here to also focus our Techpreneurs on the 'softer' stuff of turning their ideas/products etc into viable businesses? You know the boring stuff...the nuts and bolts of building an enduring business? Protecting your business idea, building a business system to deliver on the values opposition, sales, legal standing (company registration) etc..<u></u><u></u></p>
</div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">What would have happened if Samson had decided to quite his job at KRA and develop his idea independently?<u></u><u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">
<u></u> <u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">There has been lots of news of late about the hype that has become known as 'Silicon Savannah'. It would be sad if the hype is not concurrently followed by serious efforts to build an ecosystem to support all these brilliant (and not so brilliant) ideas and turn them into strong enduring businesses. <u></u><u></u></p>
</div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">For every Cellulant there are maybe tens of others that will never see the light of day. <u></u><u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">
<u></u> <u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">There is a case here for a new type of Multi-stakeholder intervention - between government, private sector (VC, Companies etc) and Not For Profits. I suspect this is already happening in some form or other. More focus is required.<u></u><u></u></p>
</div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p></div></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Ali Hussein<u></u><u></u></p></div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">CEO | 3mice interactive media Ltd<u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Principal | Telemedia Africa Ltd<u></u><u></u></span></p></div></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
</div><div><p class="MsoNormal">+254 773/713 601113<u></u><u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p></div><p class="MsoNormal">Sent from my iPad<u></u><u></u></p></div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
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</div></blockquote></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><font style color="#000066" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Warm Regards,<br><br></font><div><font color="#000066" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font style><span style="font-size:13px">Phares</span> Kariuki<br>
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