Tucked deep in the middle of the high-end leafy suburb of Lavington along Kabarsiran Avenue is a little-known government office called the Trade Marks Registry. It is so discreet that even the signboard of Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI) where it is housed does not mention it. It is a case of if you know you know.
IKM's IPT practice has been providing cutting-edge legal services in IP, technology and telecoms to local and international clients in diverse industries and sectors.
Our offering covers trademarks, patents, industrial designs, utility models, copyright, plant breeders’ rights, confidential information and trade secrets, domain names, artificial intelligence and machine learning, telecoms, fintech and data protection.
Our lawyers provide both litigation and commercial advice to a wide range of industry sectors, helping clients from emerging technology and pharmaceutical companies to established financial institutions.
IKM’s IPT’s practice is recognised by legal directories such as Chambers, WTR and IP Stars as a leading IPT firm.
Experience has included:
Intellectual Property
- Management of our client’s IP portfolio’s in Kenya and the East Africa region including but not limited to opinions on registrability, registrations, renewals, assignments etc
- Assisting clients in IP opposition and expungement/invalidation proceedings
- Filing of patents, industrial designs and utility models at ARIPO and maintenance of such applications including payment of annuity fees
- Advising clients on on anti-counterfeit actions and raids, unfair trade practices and parallel importation
- Advising on domain names and representing clients before the domain name registrar
- Advising on and registration of plant breeders’ rights with the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS)
- Advising on IP aspects in transactional matters such as licensing, mergers and acquisitions and restructuring
Technology
Experience has included:
- Advising clients on the legal considerations for setting up data centers, cloud computing, web hosting services and software as a service to its clients
- Advising on the requirements for installation of fibre connections and the applicable fines for non-compliance with the statutory requirements
- Advising on the Kenya Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- Advising on artificial intelligence and machine learning in the context of business operations and the regulatory and compliance issues that arise in different sectors/industries
- Advising on and setting up mobile virtual network operators (MVNO)
Over the past few years, the protection of personal data has been a hot topic of discussion both in Kenya and internationally. Regulators, professionals, researchers, and policy makers have contributed massively to the legal developments in this space. We have seen the enactment of new laws and regulations, increased publications, training, public discourse, and enforcement by the regulators.
The concept of money lending has been in existence for millennia. Since the commencement of trade, human beings have, on occasion, found themselves on economically unequal situations where one cannot always afford to pay for what they need. It is for this reason that in early civilisations, farmers would borrow seeds and repay with grain after their fields yielded a harvest. They would also borrow livestock on the promise that it would be returned upon the arrival of a new calf.
As the COVID-19 daily statistics continue to point in the direction of a flattening curve in Kenya, it might not be idle to ask if anything good could possibly have come out of this pandemic.
On July 16, 2020 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), also informally known as the European Court of Justice or the supreme court of the European Union, rendered a judgment of gargantuan proportions in the Schrems II Case concerning the transfer of personal data by the ubiquitous behemoth called Facebook Inc.