All well & good. If the Chinese listened to these kinds of (valid) points there would be no Huawei or ZTE in existence. Knowledge first (primary) & legalities (later but) not to be ignored.

No nation has developed by impressing foreigners but primarily by being civilized (not harming anyone including foreigners), believing in its own people & by promoting learning with its boundaries.

SMM

From: Andrea Bohnstedt <andrea.bohnstedt@ratio-magazine.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 09:47
To: murigi.muraya@gmail.com
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Reverse engineering - or patent infringement?

Good morning all,

I didn't refer to Prof. Kamau, I referred to the statement of Dr Ndemo, which he kindly qualified. I am aware of the debate of generic drugs and the arguments made that the public good should override patent rights. But this is, as I'm sure everyone is also aware of, a complex topic, with an equally complex international legal framework, and as much as it's easy to hate big pharma, I think some recognition needs to be given to companies that invest heavily in R&D.

In the Kenyan debate specifically, I would find it counterproductive if senior government officials openly call for patent right infringements (and again, Dr Ndemo did qualify his statement). Apart from the fact that I'd rather like to see innovation encouraged, it does nothing for Kenya's image towards international ICT and tech investors or people looking to outsource processes. Copy right and patent infringement and intellectual property right theft was and is a big concern in China, and Kenya has none of the advantages that China offers to offset these: very low-cost manufacturing environment and a huge domestic market. It's a bit of a contradiction to call for e.g. certifications etc to build international credibility, and then offset it with a signal like this.

On the IPad specificially: I doubt that Kenyan companies, even if they managed to copy the IPad, would be able to build it at a lower cost, and the way the education sector is run now, they'd be stolen just as quickly as any book - probably faster. I went to the Intel Classmate launch a couple of years ago and they made a useful point that just handing out kiddie laptops is not the solution: You need the whole ecosystem to make them productive. Electricity, connectivity, a place to lock them up, and importantly a teaching plan that they are integrated into.

Have a lovely day,
Andrea 

On 9 February 2010 09:07, Walubengo J <jwalu@yahoo.com> wrote:
@Andrea,

Reverse engineering - or patent infringement?

If I was Prof. Kamau, I would carefully ride on both - depending on the convenience of the laws applicable and the demand for public good. Draw the parallel with generic HIV medicines...

walu.

--- On Tue, 2/9/10, Andrea Bohnstedt <andrea.bohnstedt@ratio-magazine.com> wrote:

From: Andrea Bohnstedt <andrea.bohnstedt@ratio-magazine.com>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Getting a hold on cybercrime against women (cyber pests!)
To: jwalu@yahoo.com
Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Date: Tuesday, February 9, 2010, 12:40 AM

Reverse engineering - or patent infringement?

On 8 February 2010 21:01, <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Dear listers,
Prof. Kamau, University of Nairobi's engineering school has successifully reverse engineered the converter box for digital TV.  Those willing to visit the fab lab next week should register with Awiti in my office.  His e-mail is nawiti@information.go.ke.

I am hoping soon we can reverse engineer the ipad so that we can use it to distribute e-books to all kids in the country and avoid this theft of textbooks.

Regards.

Ndemo.
Sent from my BlackBerry®

-----Original Message-----
From: "muriuki mureithi" <mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke>
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2010 18:14:20
To: <bitange@jambo.co.ke>
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Subject: [kictanet] Getting a hold on cybercrime against women (cyber pests!)

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