Artists and innovators are pushing for a single intellectual property registration office to reduce time wasted moving from multiple government agencies.

Currently, to register an intellectual property, a person has to go through the Rwanda Development Board and get endorsement from a supervising government agency.

So for example, if it is about trade, the artist has to seek approval from the Ministry of Trade, if it is about art, music and culture, they must get approval from the Ministry of Sports and Culture.

Jean Paul Gatsinda, a renowned music producer and member of the board of Rwanda Society of Authors Union, told this paper that the lengthy and cumbersome registration procedures are locking out artists.

“We have been calling for a single office in charge of intellectual property to ease registration. In this era of digital revolution, it doesn’t make sense for someone to travel all the way from Canada or US to come and have his song or any other work of art registered with the Rwanda Development Board,” said Mr Gatsinda.

The artists asked members of parliament and government officials to solve the issue.

Amendment

“When we met lawmakers we called on them to look into these challenges and we hope they will incorporate them in the upcoming amendments,” Mr Gatsinda added.

The government started the revision of the law to cater for a number of issues, including alignment and structure of payment of royalties by consumers to local artistes and harmonisation of similar provisions in other separate laws.

Lawmakers called on government to expedite the amendments and conduct countrywide awareness to accommodate fresh proposals that can strengthen the law and help deal with the rise of copyright infringement.

“The Ministry of Trade has to speed up revision of the policy and the law governing intellectual property to curb piracy and copyright infringement,” said Athanasie Gahondogo, a member of the parliamentary committee in charge of youth, culture and education.

In the same line of proposals, lawmakers tasked government officials to improve on trademark and copyright infringement. T

he latest court battle over ownership of trademark involved South African firm Innscor International Ltd and Rwandan fast food companies Pizza Inn Ltd and Chicken Inn Ltd, which concluded with Nyarugenge Commercial Court ruling in favour of the South African company.

ICT Minister Jean de Dieu Rurangirwa said the ministry was going to look at ways of further integrating ICT in identification, quality and ownership of a number of products and artifacts.

In 2009, the government enacted the Intellectual Property Law to address piracy, copyright infringements, and protection of inventions, innovations or utility models, product or service marks, industrial designs, trade names, geographical indications, among others.