KENYA: Traditional Kenyan cloth becomes focus of trademark controversy

Record ID: 360857

  • Title: KENYA: Traditional Kenyan cloth becomes focus of trademark controversy
  • Date: 17th August 2007
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF WOMEN WEAVING THE KIONDO
  • Embargoed: 1st September 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Industry,Lifestyle
  • Reuters ID: LVACEZ0JV0AUZKUAS1O663BT96XF
  • Story Text: The kikoi is a cotton cloth introduced to the East African coast by Arab traders from Oman hundreds of years ago. But one company's move to trademark it has got the other producers and exporters up in arms.
    The kikoi is one of Kenya's traditional designs, a cotton fabric originally worn by men and women from the East African coast. Today, the skill of making the kikoi has spread across the country and the final product has become a valued export.
    At the Beacon of Hope Centre men and women are learning the age-old skill. The training centre specialises in traditional weaving methods, which they have modified to make the process faster. It takes an hour to make a kikoi - but it takes a whole day to prepare the threads so that they can be loaded onto a loom to make the fabric.
    20 kilometres from Nairobi, at the Alpha Knits fabric factory, the kikoi rolls off the loom much faster to meet a growing world-wide demand.
    Alpha Knits has a much higher output than centres like Beacon of Hope because they have computerised their production line.
    According to the Kenya Revenue Authority, exports of hand woven fabrics in Kenya increased from around 125,000 US Dollars in 2005 to two million in 2006, with kikoi exports making the bulk of the total exports.
    But now everyone wants a piece of the action. The kikoi is at the centre of a trademark controversy. The Kikoy Company applied for a trademark registration in the UK for the word kikoi spelt with a 'Y' at the end - rather than an 'I'.
    Kim Mackenzie, owner of the Kikoy Company, says that unfair practices by competitors drove him to apply for the trademark registration.
    "What has prompted us to register this word is in being copied what they call in legal jargon as passing off. Passing off is a very time consuming and lengthy protection to try and fight against other companies and by registering the word Kikoy we can stop people to a larger extent passing off as us." said Mackenzie.
    Even though local East African producers can still export their kikois to the UK, they were afraid that Mackenzie's trademark would have a monopoly over the lucrative UK market and lock them out.
    Under COFTA or the Cooperation for Fair Trade in Africa, some of the local organisations like Beacon of Hope, joined forces to stop the trademark registration and are still waiting for a ruling.
    "We feel that it is something that should still be open to other producers and they should compete to have a better product rather than stopping other people by using a word that we feel is generic, it doesn't matter if you spell it with an 'i' or a 'y', it still sounds the same,"
    said Joan Karanja, the programme co-ordinator for COFTA. "It's something that we just want to say 'look, you are an organisation competing in the market, do so but do so fairly. Right don't block out other producers from selling the same product.'"
    The kikoi is not the only traditional object to be involved in an intellectual property controversy.
    At the Kariokor market in Nairobi, women are busy weaving the kiondo, a basket traditionally made by women in central Kenya. But two years ago, the kiondo was in the middle of a similar trademark controversy after rumours that it had been patented in Japan.
    It was a scare that got Kenyan traders interested in patent laws.
    Recently kiondo traders joined a lobby group, the Maasai Market Empowerment Trust.
    David Murakaru, the director of the lobby group, wants to warn the weavers about some of the legal aspects of trade. He wants to train artisans on Intellectual property rights so that they can protect their original works.
    He said: "We as MMET, we want to go out and re-educate our members, re-educate artisans how they can protect their own artefacts and protect their own work so that they can grow economically it will protect them and protect the future of our country economically."
    Makers of traditional trademark products in the country may not have the legal expertise but they have been forced to pay attention to the importance of what's in a name.
    For those who have made the kikoi their source of livelihood they hope that when the verdict is passed, they can continue to reap the benefits of their country's rich heritage.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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