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Vital Guide to Intellectual Property Rights on Protecting Innovation

A few individuals, corporates and conglomerates have thrived on other people’s ideas, as inventors suffer the wrath of underpayment, non-payment and rejection. 

A recent rebuttal from a South African concerning the compensation he was granted for his innovation is a wakeup call for increased awareness on how to protect individual innovations. 

Nkosana Makate - the person who invented ‘Please Call Me’ services demanded a whooping amount as compensation for his idea, thrashing the funds he had been granted by Vodacom. There have been worrying concerns over proper legal channels towards protecting innovations. 

Makate alleged that Vodacom had stolen his idea after he shared the concept with his employer. The 1977 born South African native filed a case against Vodacom and won it after a record 8-year court battle.

‘Please Call Me’ service is used by Safaricom subscribers in Kenya as a message to request the other party to call you, when your airtime is below calling threshold. 

South African constitutional court ruled in favor of Makate in 2016. The inventor had appealed the ruling delivered by South Gauteng High Court.  The High Court had quashed Makete’s claim that he was promised compensation and that the debt would have expired within three years as prescribed by their law.

The creator rejected $35,400 that was granted to him from Vodacom, complaining that the money was too little. Reports indicate that Makate devised the genius idea way back in 2000 while he was working at Vodacom as a young trainee accountant.

Challenges Facing Budding Start-up Firms

The scale of innovation has been lower in Africa due to lack of finance and material to fuel ideas to substantial products. Start-up companies have a problem to access extra capital, exacerbated by their inability to access credit services.

Financial challenge leads to wastage of brilliant ideas. Due to lack of capital some share such ideas with corporates, which later on claim ownership of the innovation and because the inventor has no legal proof leads to dismissal.

Who invented Safaricom’s MPesa?

The person who invented the idea of Mpesa is still under contestation, but its record founders are Nick Hughes and Susie Lonie. The brainstorming mobile money transfer service was launched in Kenya in 2007. 

MPesa is a mobile phone money transfer service that allows users to send and receive money using their mobile phones. The technology started in Kenya but has spread to countries such Tanzania, DRC, Mozambique, South Africa, Egypt, Ghana and Afghanistan.

The services of MPesa have, so far, been expanded to include payment of utilities such as TV subscription, electricity bills, water bills and school fees using Paybill services. The Mshwari service was incorporated within MPesa to allow users to borrow and safe money.

Safaricom MPesa introduced the ‘Fuliza’ service as an overdraft provision to clients who want to withdraw beyond their account balance threshold. Both Mshwari and Fuliza services attract a charge, repayable alongside the amount granted.

In 2018, Nyagaka Anyona Ouko claimed that he was the one who invented Mpesa. He purported that he invented the idea while he was a university student at JKUAT. However, he failed to proof the authenticity of the certificate of copyright he presented which dated back to 2012 when MPesa was four years old.

There were rumors that the idea was introduced from a group of JKUAT students who pitched it with the Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph for tests. Later on the CEO implemented it into a multi-billion empire.

Other theories suggest that the MPesa inventor was of German origin, but none of them are substantial. An inventor is required, by law, to acquire a patent as proof of ownership. As of now, Safaricom remains the legal owner of MPesa innovation.

How to protect innovation?

The two case studies gravitating around mobile phone firms necessitated the discourse of securing your idea from ‘intellectual theft’.

The five vital legal apparatus for protecting ideas are patents, copyrights, trademarks, unfair competition laws, trade dress and trade secrets. Apart from securing your idea, the tools can also be used as the marketing strategy.

To get a patent you must proof beyond shadow of reasonable doubt that you are the original inventor, and strive to keep your invention confidential should protection issue arise. Registered designs are granted to persons who proof the product shape as new and distinctive.

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