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 09:47To:
murigi.muraya@gmail.comCc:
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?
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