Microsoft Corporation has handed over the ownership and management of an Intellectual Property (IP) Hub to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the regional bloc said on Thursday.
The online IP Hub project was started by Microsoft in 2014 to create and encourage an intellectual property culture in Africa as an initiative developed under Microsoft 4Africa, as an online learning resource to drive awareness around intellectual property.
It was to be piloted for two years and thereafter be handed over to the regional bloc member countries.
The regional bloc confirmed in a statement that the IP Hub was officially handed over during a ceremony held in Nairobi Kenya on April 26 on the sidelines of the commemoration of this year's World Intellectual Property Day.
"The COMESA IP Hub is a concerted effort between the public and private sector for the development of a regional platform that can contribute to a strengthened national IP protection system, in a manner that promotes innovation, business development and trade," COMESA Secretary-General Sindiso Ngwenya said in the statement.
He added that the value of IP and IP protection has not yet been fully utilized within the region and that the hand over marks a shift in the regional bloc towards the realization of the need to protect IP, with copyright protection being the initial step.
In addition to handing over the IP Hub, Microsoft 4Africa will continue to collaborate with IP authorities in the regional bloc to automate their IP registration processes.
Microsoft and COMESA are also working together to enable the creation of new IP by promoting a trusted cloud infrastructure, underpinned by relevant policies around cyber security and data privacy.
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