Related documents
- Is amended by 24th Annual Supplement
- Is amended by Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2018
LAWS OF KENYA
INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ACT
CAP. 509
- Published in Kenya Gazette Vol. CIII—No. 48 on 3 August 2001
- Assented to on 27 July 2001
- Commenced on 1 May 2002 by Industrial Property Act - Commencement
- [Amended by Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2002 (Act No. 2 of 2002) on 7 June 2002]
- [Amended by Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2007 (Act No. 7 of 2007) on 15 October 2007]
- [Amended by Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2017 (Act No. 11 of 2017) on 4 May 2017]
- [Amended by Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2018 (Act No. 18 of 2018) on 18 January 2019]
- [Revised by 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023) on 31 December 2022]
Part I – PRELIMINARY
1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Industrial Property Act.2. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—"application" means an application under this Act for the grant of—Part II – ADMINISTRATION
3. Establishment and incorporation of the Institute
There is established an institute to be known as the Kenya Industrial Property Institute which shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and shall be capable, in its corporate name, of—4. Headquarters
The Headquarters of the Institute shall be in Nairobi.5. Functions of the Institute
The functions of the Institute shall be to—6. Boards of Directors
There shall be a Board of Directors for the Institute which shall consist of—7. Functions and powers of the Board
The Board shall have all powers necessary for the proper performance of its functions under this Act and in particular but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the Board shall have power to—8. Conduct of business and affairs of the Board
9. Remuneration of Board members
The Board shall pay members of the Board such remuneration, fees, or allowances for expenses as it may determine after consultation with the Cabinet Secretary for the time being responsible for finance.[Act No. 18 of 2018, Sch.]10. Delegation by the Board
The Board may, by resolution either generally or in any particular case, delegate to any committee of the Board or to any member, officer, employee or agent of the Institute, the exercise of any of the powers or the performance of any of the functions or duties of the Board under this Act or under any other written law.11. Managing Director
12. Staff of the Institute
13. The Common seal of the Institute
14. Protection from personal liability
No matter or thing done by a member of the Board or any officer, employee or agent of the Institute shall, if the matter or thing is done bona fide for executing the functions, powers or duties of the Institute, render the member, officer, employee or agent or any person acting on his directions personally liable to any action, claim or demand whatsoever.15. Liability of the Board for damages
The provisions of section 14 shall not relieve the Institute of the liability to pay compensation or damages to any person for an injury to him, his property or any of his interests caused by the exercise of the powers conferred on the Board by this Act or by any other written law or by the failure, whether wholly or partially, of any works.16. Funds of the Institute
17. Financial year
The financial year of the Institute shall be the period of twelve months ending on the thirtieth June in each year.18. Annual estimates
19. Accounts and audit
20. Investment of funds
Part III – PATENTS: PATENTABILITY
21. Meaning of "invention"
22. Patentable inventions
An invention is patentable if it is new, involves an inventive step and, is industrially applicable.[Act No. 11 of 2017, Sch.]23. Novelty
24. Inventive step
An invention shall be considered as involving an inventive step if, having regard to the prior art relevant to the application claiming the invention, it would not have been obvious to a person skilled in the art to which the invention pertains on the date of the filing of the application or, if priority is claimed, on the priority date validly claimed in respect thereof.25. Industrial application
An invention shall be considered industrially applicable if, according to its nature, it can be made or used in any kind of industry, including agriculture, medicine, fishery and other services.26. Non-patentable inventions
The following shall not be patentable—27. Information prejudicial to defence of Kenya or safety of public
28. Restrictions on applications abroad by Kenya residents
29. Patents relating to living matter
Part IV – RIGHT TO INVENTIONS AND NAMING OF INVENTOR
30. Right to a patent
31. Unauthorized application based on an invention of another person
Where the applicant has obtained the essential elements of the invention which is the subject of his application from the invention of another person, he shall, unless authorized by the person who has the right to the patent or who owns the patent, be obliged to assign to such person the application or, where the patent has already been granted, the patent.32. Inventions made in execution of commission or by employee
33. Naming of inventor
The inventor shall be named as such in the patent application and in the patent unless in a special written declaration addressed to the Managing Director he indicates that he wishes not to be named and any promise or undertaking by the inventor made to any person to the effect that he will make such declaration shall be without legal effect.Part V – APPLICATION, GRANT AND REFUSAL OF GRANT OF PATENT
34. Application
35. Unity of inventions
36. Amendment and division of application
37. Right of priority
38. Information concerning corresponding foreign applications and grants
39. Payment of fees
40. Withdrawal of application
The applicant may withdraw the application at any time before the grant of a patent or the notification of rejection of the application or of refusal to grant a patent.41. Filing date and examination of application as to form, etc.
42. Publication of application
43. International-type search
44. Examination as to substance
45. Grant, registration and publication of a patent
46. Register of patents
47. Appeals
The applicant may appeal to the Tribunal against any decision by which the Managing Director accords a filing date, rejects the application, treats the application as if it had not been filed, considers any of the claims to be withdrawn or refuses to grant a patent.Part VI – INTERNATIONAL APPLICATIONS
48. Interpretation of Part VI
For the purposes of this Part—"international application" means an international application filed in accordance with the Patent Co-operation Treaty and the Regulations established thereunder;"Receiving Office", "designated Office", "elected Office", "international publication", "international search report", "international preliminary examination report", and the words "to designate" and "to elect" have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Patent Co- operation Treaty.49. Further functions of the Institute
50. Unsearched or unexamined international applications, etc.
51. Provisional protection of published international applications
52. Publication of international application
Publication under Article 21 of the Patent Co-operation Treaty, an international application in which Kenya is designated for a national patent shall be treated as publication in terms of the provisions of section 42.Part VII – RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE APPLICANT OR THE OWNER OF THE INVENTION
53. Rights and obligations
54. Rights of owner of patent
55. Enforcement of rights
The owner of a patent shall have the right—56. Right of a prior user
57. Scope of protection
The scope of the protection shall be determined by the terms of the claims but the description and the drawings included in the patent may be used to interpret the claims.58. Limitation of rights
59. Regional applications, grants and registrations under the Harare Protocol
Part VIII – TERM OF PATENT AND ANNUAL FEES
60. Term of patent
A patent shall expire at the end of twenty years from the filing date of the application.61. Annual fees
Part IX – CHANGE IN THE OWNERSHIP AND JOINT OWNERSHIP OF APPLICATIONS AND PATENTS
62. Change in ownership of applications, etc
63. Joint ownership of applications and patents
In the absence of any agreement to the contrary between the parties, joint owners of an application or a patent may, separately, transfer their rights in the application or patent, exploit the protected patent and preclude any person from exploiting the patent but may only jointly grant permission to any third person to do any of the acts referred to in section 54.[Act No. 18 of 2018, Sch.]Part X – CONTRACTUAL LICENCES
64. Rights of licensee
65. Rights of licensor to grant further licences and use of the invention
66. Effects of patent not being granted, revoked or being invalidated
Where, before the expiration of the licence contract any of the following events occurs with respect to any application or patent referred to in that contract—67. Form of licence contracts
All licence contracts shall be in writing and shall be signed by the parties thereto.68. Petition for registration
69. Prohibited terms in licence contracts
The Managing Director may refuse to register a licence contract if he is of the opinion that any clause in a licence contract imposes unjustified restrictions on the licensee with the consequence that the contract, taken as a whole, is harmful to the economic interests of Kenya, and that the effect of any such term contained in the contract is—70. Registration of the contract and issue of certificate
71. Remedies
An appeal against the decision of the Managing Director may be made to the Tribunal by the petitioner within two months of his refusal provided that the grounds of such an appeal shall be limited to the following—72. Compulsory licences for non-working and similar reasons
73. Compulsory licences based upon interdependence of patents
74. Preconditions for grant of compulsory licences
75. Grants and terms of compulsory licences
76. Transfer of compulsory licence
A compulsory licence may be transferred only with that part of the industrial undertaking or its goodwill, in which the relevant invention is used and no such transfer shall be valid until the consent of the Tribunal has been obtained.77. Cancellation of compulsory licences
78. Registration of grants, cancellation or variation
Where the Tribunal grants, cancels or varies the terms of a compulsory licence, the Tribunal shall instruct the Managing Director, to record the grant, cancellation or variation in the register without payment of any fee.79. Licences as of right
Part XI – EXPLOITATION OF PATENTED INVENTIONS BY THE GOVERNMENT OR BY THIRD PERSON AUTHORIZED BY THE GOVERNMENT
80. Exploitation of the patented inventions by the Government or by third persons authorized by the Government
Part XII – UTILITY MODELS
81. Applicability of provisions relating to patents
82. Special provisions relating to utility model certificates
83. Conversion of patent applications to applications for utility model certificate, and vice versa
Part XIII – INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS
84. Definition of an industrial design
85. Right to industrial design; naming of creator
86. Registrable industrial designs
87. Application, examination, opposition and registration
88. Duration and renewal of registration of an industrial design
89. Restoration of registration of industrial designs
90. Graphic representations
91. Publication of reference to registration of industrial designs
The Managing Director shall, in relation to each industrial design registered under section 87, publish the details prescribed in the regulations.[Act No. 18 of 2018, Sch.]91A. Publication of reference to registration of industrial designs
Section 46 shall apply, with necessary modifications, with respect to the maintaining of the register of industrial designs.[Act No. 18 of 2018, Sch.]92. Rights conferred by registration of industrial designs, etc
93. Transfer and assignment of industrial designs; licences
Part XIV – TECHNOVATIONS
94. Definitions
For the purpose of this Part—95. Right to technovation certificate
96. Request
A request for a technovation certificate signed by the employee shall be filed in writing with the enterprise and the enterprise shall assist the employee in filing the request and shall issue a receipt to him acknowledging that a request has been filed and indicating the date on which it has been filed.97. Issuance or refusal of technovation certificate
98. Use of technovation
99. Remuneration of the technovator
Where the enterprise uses the technovation or communicates it to a third person, the technovator shall be entitled to a remuneration the amount and method of payment of which shall, in the absence of an applicable collective bargaining agreement, be fixed by mutual agreement between the technovator and the enterprise.100. Derogation by contract
Any contractual provision which is less favourable to the employees or technovators than the provisions of this part shall be null and void.101. Disputes
Part XV – COMMON PROVISIONS: SURRENDER, REVOCATION AND INVALIDATION
102. Surrender
103. Revocation or invalidation
104. Effect of revocation or invalidation
Part XVI – INFRINGEMENT
105. Acts constituting infringement
Subject to sections 21(3)(e), 58, 61(6), 72, 73, 80(1C) and 86, any act specified in section 54 or 92 and performed by a person other than the owner of the patent or of the registered utility model or industrial design without the owner’s authorization, in relation to a product or a process falling within the scope of a validly granted patent or certificate of registration shall constitute an infringement.106. Relief
On the request of the owner of the patent or the registered utility model or industrial design, the Tribunal shall grant the following relief—107. Declaration of non-infringement
108. Threat of infringement proceedings
109. Criminal proceedings
110. Presumption of use of patented process
For the purposes of proceedings, other than criminal proceedings, in respect of the infringement of the rights of the owner of the patent, where the subject matter of the patent is a process for obtaining a product, the burden of establishing that an identical product was not made by the patented process shall be on the alleged infringer, if either of the following conditions is fulfilled—111. Legal proceedings by licensee
Part XVII – INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY TRIBUNAL
112. Appeal from decisions of the Managing Director
Where under this Act provision is made for appeals from the decisions of the Managing Director, all such appeals shall be made to the Industrial Property Tribunal in accordance with the provisions of this Part.113. Industrial Property Tribunal
114. Powers of the Tribunal
115. Appeals to the High Court
116. Assessors
The Chairperson of the Tribunal may appoint any person with expert knowledge to act as an assessor in an advisory capacity in any case where it appears to the Tribunal that such knowledge is required for the proper determination of the case.117. Rules and procedures of the Tribunal
The Cabinet Secretary may make rules for regulating the practice and procedure of the Tribunal.[Act No. 18 of 2018, Sch.]118. Reference to the Tribunal by the Managing Director
Part XVIII – MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
119. Regulations
The Cabinet Secretary may make regulations prescribing anything which under this Act may be prescribed and generally for the better carrying out of the objects and purposes of this Act.[Act No. 18 of 2018, Sch.]120. Annual Report
121. [Spent]
122. Exemption from stamp duty
No duty shall be chargeable under the Stamp Duty Act (Cap. 480) in respect of any instrument executed by, or on behalf of, or in favour of the Institute which, but for this section, the Institute would be liable to pay.History of this document
31 December 2022 this version
Revised by
24th Annual Supplement
18 January 2019
04 May 2017
15 October 2007
07 June 2002
01 May 2002
Commenced by
Industrial Property Act - Commencement
03 August 2001
27 July 2001
Assented to
Cited documents 3
Act 3
1. | Stamp Duty Act | 153 citations |
2. | Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2018 | 36 citations |
3. | Seeds and Plant Varieties Act | 10 citations |
Documents citing this one 78
Gazette 32
Judgment 31
Act 5
1. | Energy Act | 281 citations |
2. | Anti-Counterfeit Act | 76 citations |
3. | Science, Technology and Innovation Act | 51 citations |
4. | Movable Property Security Rights Act | 32 citations |
5. | Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute Act | 4 citations |
Bench Bulletin 4
1. | Bench Bulletin - Issue 37 | |
2. | Bench Bulletin - Issue 41 | |
3. | Bench Bulletin - Issue 44 | |
4. | Bench Bulletin - Issue 56 |
Legal Notice 4
Bill 2
1. | Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, 2018 | |
2. | The Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, 2016 |
Subsidiary legislation
Title
|
Date
|
|
---|---|---|
The Industrial Property Tribunal Rules | Legal Notice 196 of 2002 | 31 December 2022 |
The Industrial Property Regulations | Legal Notice 50 of 2002 | 31 December 2022 |