Regional and international lawyers will meet in Kigali to discuss the role of the judiciary in the protection and the enforcement of the Intellectual property (IP) in East Africa. The workshop is slated for June 6 - 8.

The three days event is organised by the US Department of commerce, commercial law department program (CLDP), US Patent and Trade mark offices and US department of justice in cooperation with Rwanda Supreme Court.

Speaking to The New Times, the spokesperson of the Supreme court, Charles Kaliwabo, said the occasion would attract lawyers and other stakeholders.

"We shall have participants from USA, others from regional countries. We have also invited participants from different areas like private sector, RDB (Rwandan Development Board), ministry of trade and industry, National police among others” he said.

The meeting seeks to further develop the quality of IP protection in Rwanda and the EAC by improving the skills and knowledge level necessary to provide fair, efficient, and consistent adjudication of IP cases based on the standards of protection afforded by the EAC, its member countries and the international law.

The move comes after  Rwanda recently enacted a new law on intellectual property (Law No 31/2009 of 26/10/2009) and strategy to support intellectual property rights. 

The law protects the authors of the different categories including innovators, creators of industrial designs, creators of layout designs in trade, authors of literary, artistic and scientific works and any other works of an original intellectual creation.

The law also protects owners of distinctive signs used in trade and broadcasting organisations.

The main objective of the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights is to promote technological innovation and the transfer and dissemination of technology to benefit producers.

Among the guest speakers are US ambassador to Rwanda Stuart Symington, Rwanda’s president of the Supreme Court and council of the judiciary, Aloysie Cyanzayire, US federal judge Bernice Donald among others.

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