Are East Africa's Copyright Laws Ready for the Future?
The Lawyers Hub, in collaboration with the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation and the Uganda Law Society, recently hosted a webinar titled "Examining the Kenya & Uganda Copyright Bills". The session provided a critical analysis of how East Africa is navigating the complex intersection of artificial intelligence and intellectual property. Moderated by Linda Bonyo, Founder and CEO of Lawyers Hub, the panel featured insights from policymakers, researchers, and creators.
Sseruwagi Martin George, a Regulation Officer at the Uganda Registration Services Bureau, discussed the recently enacted Copyright and Neighbouring Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which officially passed on March 17, 2026. He pointed out that the new legislation intentionally lacks specific provisions for artificial intelligence. The Ugandan government chose to defer integrating AI into its copyright law until the National AI Taskforce, which was formed around 2023, completes a comprehensive National AI Policy.
While Uganda waits for a broader policy, Intellectual Property Law Researcher Chebet Koros highlighted the immediate friction between current copyright laws and AI innovation in Africa. She illustrated this by citing the Masakhane group's effort to create African language datasets. The group attempted to use data from the Jehovah's Witnesses website, but restrictive copyright notices prohibiting text and data mining ultimately prevented them from utilizing the information, demonstrating how existing IP frameworks can stall regional AI development.
Conversely, Dan Aceda, a Musician and Board Member at the Kenya Copyright Board, emphasized the existential threat AI poses to artists and their livelihoods. He noted that AI platforms currently ingest millions of copyrighted songs to train their models without compensating the original creators, a trend he warned is gradually erasing the concept of IP ownership. To better protect creators, Aceda strongly advocated for the specialized copyright tribunals proposed in Kenya's 2026 Bill. He explained that while current IP cases in the High Court can take five to six years to resolve, these new tribunals could cut that timeline down to just a few months.
You can watch the full recording of the webinar and hear all the insights from the session below.
