LEADERSHIP
Navigating Copyright And
Intellectual Property In
The Wake Of Creativity
For Self-Employment
By George Mbithi
J
ohnstone Amani was in third year
at the University when he was
approached through LinkedIn by
Editor-In-Chief for a global magazine
that used to publish articles focusing
on African narratives that encourage
creativity and use of technology in
industries such as Agriculture. The
magazine was just penetrating the Kenyan
market, and they really loved Amani’s
articles, or so they said. “Look, Amani, I
personally love the perspectives you take
and how you always argue out ideas in
your articles,” the editor-in-chief once
told Amani.
He had started discussions of making
Amani the face of the magazine in the
region, an idea Amani welcomed whole-
heartedly! I mean, who wouldn’t like to be
the face of a magazine at a time he is still
in college? That would bring much needed
publicity for Amani, in addition to the
“appreciation” he used to receive for each
article in the form of money.
In its bid to break into the Kenyan market,
the magazine started massive promotions
in Kenya by use of display screens in
public places, bill boards, and posters.
These materials carried messages on their
business and featured some prominent
contributors to the magazine. “In as much as we had not signed any sort
of agreement on how they’d use material
I shared with them, the understanding we
had with them was my contribution to the
magazine. Going ahead to use my material
in advertisement without even notifying
me is not something I took lightly.”
Now, here is the problem… Amani got to
learn of the use of his photo and quotes
from other people who saw the mass
media material. First it was a call from a
friend who saw an advert in a supermarket
in Nairobi. Then it was a high-school mate
who saw a billboard in Kisumu. That was
followed by another friend who sighted
a billboard in Mombasa. All were calling
Amani telling him he has become a celeb
to the point of appearing in billboards! “Did you sue them?” I asked. “I engaged a
lawyer, realized I will lose the case for lack
of an agreement of any sort, then dropped
the case,” said Amani. He says that he
parted ways with them and demanded
that all adverts with his image and quotes
be brought down immediately.
On his end, Amani was upset! This was the
start of the end of his engagement with the
magazine. When I asked him why he was
mad yet he was getting the attention he
would love at this point, his response was,
For any young person out there engaged
in any sort of artistic work, at least no-
tify your client that you intend to use
the commissioned art for promotion of
your business. Over 90% of your clients
will not have an issue with it. As a mat-
ter of fact, they will most likely offer
to promote the message on their sites as
well!
28 MAL32/19 ISSUE
I recently found myself in an unrelated
but similar case, if there is anything
like that in English. While browsing
through Instagram, I came across nicely
drawn images posted by a young man
with the caption: “Work of my hands,
#KeepArtAlive. Get in touch to have your
photos drawn in this manner, at a small
fee.”
He went ahead and provided his contact
details. In a bid to ‘support the talent’,
I engaged the artist and shared a photo
of my friend to be adapted into the nice
drawing, with a view of framing it and
presenting to my friend as a surprise
birthday present. I was moved by the way
this young man was talented. He took
just a day to deliver the first draft of the
artwork! I paid for the services in full,
requested for a few amendments here and
there, and sat back to get the final artwork.
Remember I said I wanted the drawing to
be a surprise birthday gift to my friend?
Well, I never surprised her! Why? Because
this artist took a photo of the final drawing