Chapter 2: Apply copyright laws

2.1 Understanding intellectual property rights

Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind that the law treats as owned: works of writing, music, images and film, inventions, and the names and signs that identify a business. The owner of an IP right can control how the creation is used and can stop others from copying or exploiting it without permission. A broadcaster lives on IP. Scripts, bulletins, jingles, footage, graphics, the station name and the software that runs the studio are all creations of the mind, and each belongs to someone.

Meaning of intellectual property rights

An intellectual property right is a legal entitlement over an intangible creation. The creation may be expressed in a physical form such as a recording, but the right attaches to the creation itself and not to the object that carries it. Intellectual property rights give the owner two main powers: to use the creation personally and commercially, and to prevent others from doing so without a licence. They are generally limited in time, limited by territory, and subject to exceptions that protect the public.

Why the law protects intellectual property

Societies protect intellectual property for reasons that a journalist can recognise in daily work.

• Reward: a creator who spends time and money making a documentary or a song should be able to earn from it, or no one would invest.
• Incentive: protection encourages more creation. Producers and writers take risks on new work when copying does not take away the return.
• Fair competition: a station's name and logo let listeners find the programmes they trust. Protecting them stops a rival from passing itself off as the station.
• Public benefit: rights last for a limited time and have exceptions, so knowledge and culture eventually enter the public domain.
• Respect for the creator: the law recognises that a work expresses its author's personality, which is why authors have rights to be named and to object to distortion.

Kenya's legal framework and institutions

The Constitution of Kenya 2010 requires the State to support, promote and protect the intellectual property rights of the people of Kenya (Article 40(5)). Several Acts apply the principle. The Acts on copyright, patents and trademarks are taught in Forms of IP rights.

Kenya is also a member of international bodies such as the World Intellectual Property Organization and a party to treaties including the Berne Convention on copyright, so a work created abroad may be protected in Kenya and a Kenyan work abroad. Check the current text of each Act, since several have been amended. A Bill before the National Assembly in 2026 proposes to merge KIPI, the Kenya Copyright Board and the Anti-Counterfeit Authority into one authority, so check whether it has become law before naming the office to approach.

Who owns and who uses intellectual property in a newsroom

Ownership of an intellectual property right belongs first to the creator, but there are common exceptions. Under the Copyright Act, a work made by an employee in the course of employment, or commissioned from someone who is not an employee, is treated as belonging to the employer or the commissioner unless the parties agree otherwise. Ownership can also be transferred by assignment or shared through a licence. A newsroom must therefore know for each item whether it owns the right, holds a licence or is borrowing the item without a right to use it.

Worked example from a digital news channel

Example: the content team of a new digital news channel audits what it plans to broadcast in its first month. The list contains: bulletin scripts written by staff, a theme tune bought from a musician, archive footage supplied by a news agency, photographs licensed from a freelancer, the channel's name and logo, and editing software.

The team sorts each item into three groups. Scripts written by staff in the course of their jobs are owned by the channel under the employment contracts. The theme tune, agency footage and photographs are licensed, so the team records the terms of each licence: what use is allowed, for how long and in which territory. The editing software is licensed under the vendor's terms, which forbid copying it to extra computers. The channel name and logo are owned by the channel, but the team finds that the name is not yet registered, so it notes the need to register it with the Kenya Industrial Property Institute. By the end of the audit, the team has a register that shows which items it can use freely, which need renewal and which must be replaced.

Chapter Summary

This chapter explained the intellectual property that a broadcaster creates, buys and borrows. Intellectual property is a legal entitlement over a creation of the mind, protected under Article 40(5) of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and by the Copyright Act, 2001, the Industrial Property Act, 2001, the Trade Marks Act and related laws, overseen by the Kenya Copyright Board and the Kenya Industrial Property Institute. Unlike general property, intellectual property is intangible, can be used by many people at once, is limited in time and territory, and is transferred by assignment or licence, so the owner of an object and the owner of its contents are often different people. Copyright protects the expression of original works from creation, a patent protects a new inventive technical solution after application and grant, and a trademark protects a sign that identifies a business. A bare idea is not protected, so it is moved into recorded expression, confidential agreements and registered rights. Plagiarism is a breach of professional honesty that differs from infringement, and a newsroom avoids it through its own reporting, source logs, clear attribution, licences and checks before broadcast.