Kenya: Parliament to debate scrapping compulsory licensing powers

Kenyan lawmakers are set to debate proposed amendments to a bill that, if passed, would prevent the government from issuing compulsory licenses to produce urgently needed medicines without seeking approval from the patent holder. The amendments, which involve deleting parts of Kenya’s Industrial Property Act of 2001, were first expected to be debated Thursday. But Peter Munyi, an intellectual property lawyer in Nairobi close to the issue, told Intellectual Property Watch that parliamentarians were meeting late Wednesday to discuss the proposed changes.