Innovation and Intellectual Property in Africa

Innovators and entrepreneurs from across the globe almost always know the importance of using intellectual property law to protect their inventions. The first question, then, is “which type of IP protection should I use?” The answer to this question usually depends on the type of invention being protected. However, a deeper investigation into the benefits the average African entrepreneur actually receives from these protections, and why the current regime of protections even exist in the first place, yields a far more complicated answer for these entrepreneurs.