Currently, RDB does not have capacity for patent examination and considering the size of the country and rate
of application for IP titles the office does not intend to become an examining office. Rather, the vision is for
Rwanda to join ARIPO and rely on the examination capacity there.
2.4 The Rwandan context: IP enforcement
The new IP Law includes extensive provisions on enforcement and provides a range of powers to the judiciary
and special tribunals, the police and customs authorities to address IP enforcement. The law also seeks to
provide safeguards for third parties in line with the TRIPS principles. The promulgation of the new policy and
law also coincides with the inauguration of the Commercial Court branch of the High Court of Rwanda under
whose jurisdiction IP issues fall. These are particularly important developments for Rwanda. The reason is that
while there are increasing complaints regarding counterfeiting, there is very limited technical and human
capacity to address claims of infringement within the police and the customs department. For example,
currently the customs department has no capacity to distinguish counterfeit products and relies wholly on the
World Customs Organisation (WCO) Regional Intelligence Liaison Office (RILO) based in Nairobi for
detection.
Within industry, while counterfeiting was cited as a problem, it did not appear to be an extreme case. So far,
there have been very few cases relating to IP infringement. Since the creation of the Commercial High Court in
May 2008 no IP cases have been brought before them. The situation may soon change, however, especially with
the new IP law. During the interviews for the needs assessment exercise, the low level of IP cases previously
was attributed to the level of damages payable for infringement and lack of awareness. In criminal cases, the
lack of testing and detection ability meant that it was difficult to surmount the requirements of proof in court.
Beyond the national concerns, another key concern highlighted in the interviews was the impact of Rwanda’s
entry into the EAC market. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the country is facing increasingly complex cases
and that Rwanda exporters have to deal with issues of infringement, particularly with respect to trademarks in
other EAC countries.
2.5 Science, technology and innovation: context and indicators
Rwanda, with its low human development and per capita income has, as a corollary, a weak foundation of
science, technology and innovation (STI). This is a challenge that is faced by many other countries in a similar
economic situation. The country faces significant economic and structural limitations arising from heavy
reliance on certain commodities, limited physical and communications infrastructure as well as institutional
limitations.
From an innovation perspective, there are also a number of specific characteristics of the system in Rwanda.
These characteristics include:
A weak innovation system with few resources devoted to innovative activities both in the public and
private sector.
A system dominated by minor and/or incremental innovations.
The government having a major role in research and development (R&D) execution and funding.
Significant levels of instability because firms are micro or small with macro-economic uncertainty
limiting long-term innovative activity.
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