The Standard Media ground has been under fire after a Kenyan on Twitter accused the mainstream media house stealing his intellectual property.
A Photographer called Gabriella Achieng shared her dissatisfaction after the Standard News paper shared 3 of her images without any acknowledgement
“Woke up to three of my photos published in today’s issue of @StandardKenya with no mention of me in the photo credits,” she shared on twitter.
Intellectual Property rights (IPRs) are generally known as “negative rights” because the owner enforces them by stopping third parties from exploiting the rights’ subjects.
An IPR is typically infringed when a third party performs an act that is legally restricted to either the owner of the IPR or a person who has the owner’s permission to exploit the right (a licensee)
Here is the reactions that have left Standard Group under fire
Sue them but as you do I would like to know if it's wrong to take a picture of someone without their consent, would you copyright it without their consent et al
— Mr.Osoro (@Nelson58369805) March 20, 2022
Am certain before the sun is straight up our heads you will have received a call. Don't demand for a higher figure, neither should it be lower.
— inyanikelly (@kellyinyani) March 20, 2022
The obvious way to go is to sue the peeps
But going head-on with corporates in the court issa task.
Methinks threaten to sue, public shame them, and pray the publicity hits where it hurts to elicit a reaction.— Anutha_Brutha (@kamundu_funny) March 20, 2022
https://twitter.com/krukhead/status/1505475769388126209?s=20&t=Obl-m0a2ZJUIHy63TDiaiA
https://twitter.com/JamesWakibia/status/1505463848169574407?s=20&t=Obl-m0a2ZJUIHy63TDiaiA
From experience, Standard are notorious for this 😅 Especially if they got the pics from Social Media… https://t.co/P7D1Y9BN1F
— Boris the Blade. (@BrianAyieko) March 20, 2022
Safaricom has also been accused of stealing intellectual property by Kenyans on twitter and developers that have been sharing ideas
In general, patents protect innovations by granting owners the right to prevent unlawful use of their creations. Copyright protects unique works of art and literature, whereas trademarks protect distinguishing signs and names.
In all situations, holders of these rights have the right to restrict unlawful use of the protected invention, confusingly similar marks, or the replication or modification of one or more protected artworks.
The precise nature of an IPR is such that the owner of an IPR has the authority and monopoly to prevent others from exploiting the subject of the right without the owner’s consent.
