Disclosing Non-Disclosure

Yesterday a workshop was held by the ICT Board at the University of Nairobi’s Chiromo campus to discuss their Digital Content and Software Applications Grants. The grants have two categories that Kenyan participants can enter:

• Government information portal: to develop solutions and products that exploit mobile and web technology in the delivery of government information or services, and 
• Private sector content and applications: to develop innovative solutions and products that exploit mobile and web technology in the delivery of information, entertainment or services 

The venue was packed to capacity with entrepreneurs seeking to find out how their projects could benefit from this Kshs. 300 Million grant facility that is aimed at promoting the development of local digital content and software applications.

After discussing modalities regarding applications and eligibility amongst other grant criteria, one of the contentious issues that emerged was the intellectual property protection for the grant applicant’s projects.

Some participants expressed concern that even if they are not selected, their software could be used by unscrupulous people. However, one way that emerged to mitigate this was a suggestion that non-disclosure agreements could be included in the application supporting documents, if not on the online template.

Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), also known as confidentiality agreements, or proprietary information agreements are legal contracts between at least two parties to protect non-public business information.

With the ICT Board grant form not providing for NDAs, another suggested way of intellectual  property protection was through the use of patents, copyrights and trademarks. Some participants nevertheless raised the point that the triumvirate of IP protection tools were expensive and beyond the reach of small entrepreneurs. However, a lawyer who gave a short presentation advised that in fact the cost of registering copyrights was Kshs. 600 (US$ 7.40) - not as punitive as earlier thought.

Copyrights, patents and trademarks provide innovators with exclusive rights, including the right to copy, distribute and adapt their work. These intellectual property rights also give the owners the right to commence legal proceedings to prevent unauthorized use of their innovation.

The discussion then veered onto how an entrepreneur engaging a large corporation could protect their idea from being exploited. However the unequal relationship power balance means that even though an entrepreneur may ask a corporate to sign an NDA, they do have the option of refusal. Many entrepreneurs have done away with their NDAs only to see their projects being used by the same companies they approached. In Kenya, there is also the problem of the time and expense it takes to pursue court cases which also act as a deterrence when seeking out the IP rights and protection.

The ICT Board could take up this issue to sensitise the private sector on the ethical sense of respecting the hard work of entrepreneurs. In the meantime, we will protect our innovations the best we can.