Street vendors in Ethiopia wear bibs reading "Let your choice be original works." (© Getachew Mengistie)

27 May 2008

(Media, schools, artists, writers, scientists, businesses involved)

Washington -- Ethiopia has mobilized its media, schools, judicial and law enforcement agencies, as well as commercial, cultural, artistic and scientific groups to press home the need for intellectual property (IP) protection to develop the country’s economy.

When the Ethiopian government grasped the importance of intellectual property rights as a development tool, it realized that a societywide engagement was necessary, says Getachew Mengistie, the director-general of the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office.

"We concluded that piracy is not something that could be handled by the government alone," Mengistie said during a recent visit to Washington.  He said the government formed a national intellectual property council consisting of government ministries, the media, and trade, as well as artistic, scientific, literary and scientific groups, all of which have a stake in protecting the fruits of intellectual labor.

Mengistie said that Ethiopian television and radio stations produced programs that ran for months to educate the public on the importance of intellectual property protection.

"The programs asked the question, 'is there a parent who does not want better education for his children?'  The answer is 'no.'  So, if we are for better education, that requires access to better books and educational materials.  These are the fruits of our authors.  If these materials are going to be pirated, authors will not be motivated to write them," Mengistie said.

As a result of media involvement, when the police and courts began taking actions against pirating and counterfeiting, the Ethiopian public supported them, he said.

The Ethiopian education ministry has integrated intellectual property protection into its curriculum for primary and secondary education to heighten citizens' appreciation for Ethiopian authors and inventors, according to Mengistie.

"Tomorrow's authors and inventors are today's primary school students," he said.  "We should teach our students that our authors and inventors are our heroes."  He said the curriculum will have a huge beneficial effect on Ethiopia's society and economy in 10 years to 20 years.

The director-general said Ethiopia has one of the great cultural treasures in the world, the Lalibela Church, which was carved from a single block of stone.  "This is the result of the human mind, so it is intellectual property.  But we don't know who has done this.  It's more than about business.  It's about national culture and identity," Mengistie said.

With regard to the Ethiopian music industry, the association of recording companies agreed to lower the prices of compact discs of original recordings from $15 to $2.50, Mengistie said.  The price reduction took away much of the incentive to produce pirated compact discs, which cost about $1.10.

The 5,000 street vendors who sell CDs from push carts were brought into the broad educational campaign.  "If we do not address the interests of these people, it would result in undesirable effects," Mengistie said.  "They organized street vendors and gave them uniforms which say on the backs, 'Buy original, not pirated.  Piracy kills creativity.'"

Protecting intellectual property has had a huge beneficial effect on the recording industry, according to Mengistie.  In 2003, there were 50 Ethiopian recording companies.  Now, there are 204.  The number of musical works has risen, and the languages in which they are sung have broadened, notably in Amharic, Tigrigna and Romugna, the main Ethiopian dialects.  The maximum amount of money that a musician could make from a recording in the pre-IP era was about $45,000.  Now, an artist can command a price of $150,000 for a recording.  "You can see the benefits of investment and employment that intellectual property has brought.  This brings increased government revenue.  It's big," Mengistie said.

The policies have had an equally astonishing effect in nurturing the Ethiopian film industry.  Filmmaking was nonexistent before 2003, but today, as if a magical wand has been waved, producers make two to three films a month.

"There is a big potential for this industry.  This is for the domestic market, but there is a big Ethiopian diaspora in Europe, Africa and the United States.  If we can find a mechanism to tap those markets, you can see where the creative industries will be in the future," Mengistie said. 

Patents for industrial design have enabled Ethiopia to start developing a local manufacturing base and ease its reliance on imported goods.  One example is the shoemaking industry, which has come into being during the past several years.  Until a few years ago, Ethiopia's shoes were imported from Kenya, India or China.  Now, as a result of patent protections, local manufacturers are producing shoes in greater variety and quality and at lower prices than what was available from importers.

A similar process is under way for traditional Ethiopian medicine, most of which has no written tradition.  Traditional doctors are having their remedies tested and analyzed by Western-trained medical researchers.  If the remedies are found to be effective, they are patented in the name of the traditional doctors and pharmaceutical companies, and the patent holders receive royalties on the sales.

"Traditional doctors are willing to share their knowledge provided that their rights are recognized and they are able to profit from their knowledge," Mengistie said.