KIGALI - Lawmakers will today begin a two-day training on the protection of intellectual property rights at Parliamentary Buildings, Kimihurura.

It is hoped that the training will equip the legislators with the necessary skills required to enact a law on property rights, officials said.

Currently the country has no law protecting intellectual property rights which has some times encouraged plagiarism, duplication and unauthorized use of people’s intellectual property in such areas as music.

The workshop has been organized by the World Intellectual Property (WIPO) in collaboration with Parliament, according to Vice Speaker Denis Polisi.

Polisi explained that the conference comes at a time when the Lower Chamber of Parliament is discussing a bill aimed at protecting the intellectual property rights.
"We have brought foreign experts to facilitate it (the workshop),” he said.

The bill on protection of intellectual property rights is presently under consideration in the parliamentary scientific commission on education, culture and youth.

"We want to equip MPs on the technicalities used in the bill on copy rights so that by the time the bill is tabled before the plenary, they would have a thorough understanding of the terms used,”Polisi said.

"When the law comes out, it will be easy to trace and punish all those people who duplicate other people’s work,” Polisi noted.

He said that the law would protect Rwandan artistes, authors, among others.

On the agenda, the workshop will among others focus on several international treaties including the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS); copy rights and creative industries; creative management of copy rights; and branding.
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