Decolonising Intellectual Property Law by Kouletakis, Jade; Itanyi, Nkem;

Short description:

This book advocates for an Afrocentric approach to intellectual property (IP) law, using lessons from Nigeria’s past to encourage reform for the future of Africa’s legal IP landscape.

Long description:

This book advocates for an Afrocentric approach to intellectual property (IP) law, using lessons from Nigeria’s past to encourage reform for the future of Africa’s legal IP landscape.

Highlighting the Eurocentric influence on the history of intellectual property law in Africa, the book demonstrates how this contradicts traditional African community culture. This book makes the case for legitimising cultural expressions of traditional communities despite the western legal framework within which they exist, reimagining a decolonised IP framework whereby African histories are centred. Questioning the fundamentals of the current IP landscape, such as the concept of eligibility in copyright which developed alongside European technological advances, the book also details the role of the courts in resolving IP disputes. It highlights Africa as a powerhouse of original, autonomous innovation, values, and traditions which predate the West’s concept of intellectual property. It illustrates the African experience of intellectual property from a pro-African perspective as shared by African authors.

This book will be of interest to researchers in the field of intellectual property, copyright, and patent law, as well as African law.

Decolonising Intellectual Property is a momentous task: Its core foundations - such as progress, property and sovereignty - emanate from early European modernity and have long been universalised as part of colonial and neo-colonial enterprises. Taking an Afrocentric approach, Dr Jade Kouletakis and Dr Nkem Itanyi and their team of authors offer a rich account of alternative perspectives and visions for creativity and innovation in Africa – with their own takes on tailoring conventional IP protection tools to domestic needs, as well as substituting such tools for indigenous solutions.

Henning Grosse Ruse-Khan, Fellow and Co-Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law (CIPIL) at King’s College, University of Cambridge

The editors of this collection are to be congratulated for assembling such a tremendous range of scholarship and perspectives on intellectual property, producing a volume that is itself an instrument in the decolonisation of intellectual property scholarship and research. This collection of essays navigates the western mapping of intellectual property and reviews the full terrain of rights with fresh cartography. It is invaluable and imperative that intellectual property scholarship agitates the Anglocentric and anthropocentric lens within which much of that scholarship is compelled. And in doing so, it is important for scholarship to begin to interrogate not only its context but also the kinds of questions themselves and the reasons they are asked. This volume makes a critically important contribution to the re-mapping of intellectual property, its history and its cultures, and is a crucial addition to international intellectual property scholarship.

Johanna Gibson, Herchel Smith Professor of Intellectual Property Law, Queen Mary, University of London, Editor-in-Chief, Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property

This book contributes to the all-important epistemic debate over the evolution and jurisprudence of the Intellectual Property (IP) system as we know it today. Finding cogency in the rapid cross-cultural narratives that have animated IP landscape - narratives that are yet to come to a full circle given the predominance of Western worldview, the book reinforces existing Afrocentric scholarship on the geo-political currency of IP law. The editors, Jade Kouletakis and Nkem Itanyi and the authors, who are well-known in the field, offer a compelling voice to the redefinition of IP as a more dynamic and inclusive body of knowledge.

 Adebambo Adewopo, Professor, SAN Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies

This book offers an interesting paradigm shift in intellectual property discourse, centering African perspectives and challenging Eurocentric norms. Essential reading for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners seeking a decolonized understanding of intellectual property rights in Africa and beyond.

Enrico Bonadio, Professor of Intellectual Property Law, City St George's University of London (previously City, University of London)

The book is timely, invaluable and highly relevant to the current need for a truly African-centred and decolonised intellectual property law. It is a must-read for students, IP specialists and policymakers in Africa and beyond.

Yeukai Mupangavanhu, Associate Professor, University of the Western Cape, South Africa

This book makes a unique contribution to the discourse on the interface between intellectual property and development. Employing an Afrocentric approach, the editors and the various authors engage with several topical issues relating to the role of intellectual property law in African development. The book offers useful insights and novel perspectives on issues such as African traditional communities and intellectual property rights, copyright and colonialism, patent rights and technological development, and the protection of traditional medicines via patent law. The book will therefore be of significant interest to those interested in the debates regarding the relationship between Africa, intellectual property rights, and development.

Dr Emmanuel Kolawole Oke, Senior Lecturer in International Intellectual Property Law, Edinburgh Law School, University of Edinburgh

Decolonising Intellectual Property Law: An Afrocentric Approach spotlights often overlooked aspects of intellectual property (IP) rights, presenting fresh insights from African scholars. By centring African narratives, it enriches the global IP discourse with diverse histories, cultural practices, and knowledge systems that have long been marginalised. Through its African centred lens, the timely book boldly challenges dominant Eurocentric narratives, offering alternative perspectives that reflect varied lived experiences from around Africa. In doing so, it expands the boundaries of IP scholarship, providing a richer, more inclusive, and dynamic understanding of IP.

Dr Titilayo Adebola, Senior Lecturer and Theme Coordinator for International Intellectual Property and Information Law, University of Aberdeen

Table of Contents:

List of Contributors

Foreword by Professor Graham Dutfield

Introduction: Rewriting the History of Intellectual Property Law in Africa - A Decolonisation Perspective

Nkem Itanyi

Chapter 1 - Decolonising Copyright Theory: Justifying Copyright Ownership Through the Prism of the United Nations Developmental Agenda

Jade Kouletakis

Chapter 2 - From Moonlight Tales to Town Halls to Cinemas: Customary Copyright Practices and Performances that Led to Nollywood in Nigeria

Nkem Itanyi

Chapter 3 - Traditional Peoples in Africa and Intellectual Property Rights: Losing The Status of Their Jurisprudence and Knowledge Systems

Ayoyemi Lawal-Arowolo

Chapter 4 - Technology, Intellectual Property Rights Protection and Nigerian Development by

Ike Chime

Chapter 5 - Apprenticeship System (Igba Boyi) of Preserving Indigenous Knowledge in Igbo Land, Southast Nigeria and Technology Transfer in Patent Law: A Necessary Linkage

Nneka Chioma Ezedum

Chapter 6 - An overview of the Patenting Scheme: The Nigerian Story

Regina Obiechine

Chapter 7 - Decolonisation of Methods of Medicine Production and Patents in Nigeria: The Dilemma of Colonial Mentality on Traditional Medicine

Ayoyemi Lawal-Arowolo and Adesoji Adebayo

Chapter 8 - A Comparative Study of African and Western Mediation Cultures with a Focus on the Music Industry

Seun Lari-Williams

Conclusion: From Passive to Active Voice, or The Start of a Conversation with Africa

Jade Kouletakis