In 2013, the Presidential Taskforce on Parastatal Reforms in a report presented to the President recommended merging of Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI), Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) and the Anti-Counterfeit Authority (ACA). The basis of this was that these institutions undertake similar and complimentary functions therefore it would be best if they are domiciled in one institution. KIPI and ACA are both State Corporations under the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and Enterprise Development. KECOBO is a State Corporation under the office of the Attorney General.

In 2020 following these recommendations, the Ministry of Industrialisation and Enterprise Development drafted a bill under the name Intellectual Property Bill, 2020. The proposed Bill merged the three institutions as recommended in the Presidential Report. The Bill was subjected to public participation and comments submitted to the Ministry of Industrialisation through the respective institutions. Under the Report and the subsequent Bill, the new State Agency was to be known as Kenya Intellectual Property Office (KIPO).

During the 2021 World IP Day celebrations by KIPI, the Principal Secretary, State Department for Industrialisation indicated that the Intellectual Property Bill, 2020 has been reviewed in light of the public comments received. The Ministry is ready to present it through a memo to the Cabinet for debate and approval. One of the key highlights of the speech is that the new merged office will now be named Kenya Intellectual Property Authority (KIPA).

We look forward to receiving the final Bill as presented to the Cabinet for our review and commentary. In the meantime, we will be dissecting the Bill further to discuss some of the issues we hope are prioritised in the new bill as presented in Cabinet.