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Decolonising Intellectual Property Law: An Afrocentric Approach

Decolonising Intellectual Property Law: An Afrocentric Approach

Author: Jade Kouletakis; Nkem Itany
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9781032985718

Published In: October 2025
Format: Hardback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

List Price: HKD 2,015.00

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Description
Contents

Details

This book advocates for an Afrocentric approach to intellectual property (IP) law, using lessons from Nigeria’s past to encourage reform for the future of Africa’s legal IP landscape.

Highlighting the Eurocentric influence on the history of intellectual property law in Africa, the book demonstrates how this contradicts traditional African community culture. This book makes the case for legitimising cultural expressions of traditional communities despite the western legal framework within which they exist, reimagining a decolonised IP framework whereby African histories are centred. Questioning the fundamentals of the current IP landscape, such as the concept of eligibility in copyright which developed alongside European technological advances, the book also details the role of the courts in resolving IP disputes. It highlights Africa as a powerhouse of original, autonomous innovation, values and traditions which predate the West’s concept of intellectual property. It illustrates the African experience of intellectual property from a pro-African perspective as shared by African authors.

This book will be of interest to researchers in the field of Intellectual Property, copyright and patent law, as well as African law.

Foreword by Professor Graham Dutfield

Introduction: Rewriting the History of Intellectual Property Law in Africa - A Decolonisation Perspectice

Nkem Itanyi

Chapter 1 - Decolonising Copyright Theory: Justifying Copyright Ownership Through the Prism of the United Nations Developmental Agenda

Jade Kouletakis

Chapter 2 - From Moonlight Tales to Town Halls to Cinemas: Customary Copyright Practices and Performances that Led to Nollywood in Nigeria

Nkem Itanyi

Chapter 3 - Traditional Peoples in Africa and Intellectual Property Rights: Losing The Status of Their Jurisprudence and Knowledge Systems

Ayoyemi Lawal-Arowolo

Chapter 4 - Technology, Intellectual Property Rights Protection and Nigerian Development by

Ike Chime

Chapter 5 - Apprenticeship System (Igba Boyi) of Preserving Indigenous Knowledge in Igbo Land, Southast Nigeria and Technology Transfer in Patent Law: A Necessary Linkage

Nneka Chioma Ezedum

Chapter 6 - An overview of the Patenting Scheme: The Nigerian Story

Regina Obiechine

Chapter 7 - Decolonisation of Methods of Medicine Production and Patents in Nigeria: The Dilemma of Colonial Mentality on Traditional Medicine

Ayoyemi Lawal-Arowolo and Adesoji Adebayo

Chapter 8 - A Comparative Study of African and Western Mediation Cultures with a Focus on the Music Industry

Seun Lari-Williams

Conclusion: From Passive to Active Voice, or The Start of a Conversation with Africa

Jade Kouletakis