LLB Research Projects (2017)

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Plant variety protection: a path to agricultural development in Kenya
(Strathmore University, 2017) Chege, Curtis Gachiri
Proprietary rights date back to Stone Age in Kenya. Individuals, families, clans and communities have always held a profound, almost divine, attachment to property such as land, cattle, and wives among other things. Communities and societies upheld laws and culture that respected a man’s right to his property. However intellectual property is a fairly recent import. The exclusion of others from the expression of an idea or work was introduced globally to protect innovators and inventors from exploitation. The protection of varieties of plants is particular foreign. Ancient communities subsisted on agriculture and communal labour. Therefore no single individual could be credited with the invention of a plant variety. The growth and exposure to new technologies from industrialized states has influenced the social and legal framework of Kenyan society and created a new market for innovation and exclusionary rights. This study seeks to address the scope of PVP mechanisms in the Kenyan context. It will seek to clarify the barriers inhibiting this application and how they can be overcome. The study is conducted through literature review of plant variety protection systems and the global obligations Kenya has as a member of several universal agreements.