In Rwanda, utility models may provide the most important avenue for using IP to support development. Utility
models are particularly relevant in achieving policy objective II – encouraging minor and incremental
innovation and creativity. It is also an instrument which Rwanda can use as it wishes since there are no TRIPS
or other international obligations that restrict state action.
The Rwanda IP Law includes provisions which permit the granting of utility model certificates for inventions
that are new and industrially applicable. There is no requirement of inventiveness. The inventions covered are
technical innovation. The novelty test is, however, the same as that required for patents, i.e., -universal and
absolute novelty. Enablement and best mode disclosure requirements, the definition of person skilled in the art,
procedures for amendment and withdrawal of application and the rights conferred by utility model are also the
same as that of patent. The duration of protection is for ten years.
To ensure that the utility model provisions in the law serve to encourage minor and incremental innovation and
to bring as many players as possible into the innovation circle will require innovative interpretation and possibly
revision in the regulations of the IP Law. This is critical because one of the main reasons why utility models are
critical for many countries is to enable low cost entry into the IP system by small players. In developed
countries utility models are mainly aimed at small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In Rwanda, however, their
application is much broader since most firms and entities are small or micro.
(b) Copyright
The implementation and development of copyright law is particularly relevant to meeting policy objectives I
and V. In the context of policy objective I, the focus will be on the treatment of copyright in libraries,
educational and teaching institutions, use by visually impaired and other disabled people, computer
programmes, and technological protection measures (TPMs) as well as issues touching on folklore and public
domain. For these purposes, libraries, educational institutions including specialised institutions such as schools
for the blind and the general public should be sensitised to the permissible uses of copyrighted works to
encourage and support education, including cultural education, and entrepreneurship. In this regard, the
following should be noted:
Libraries and archives: The IP Law allows the making of copies by reprographic reproduction in order
to preserve and replace a copy, including replacement of a copy in the permanent collection of another
similar library or archive as well as making copies from library materials for personal use of natural
persons for the purposes of study, scholarship or private research.
Education: The IP Law allows the use of published works for teaching purposes by way of illustration,
broadcasting or sound or visual recordings. The exception also covers reprographic reproduction of
various articles published in magazines or gazettes, short extracts of works or a short creative work for
teaching or for examinations in educational institutions which do not serve direct or indirect
commercial gain. Public performance of a work is permitted for teaching activities where only the staff
and students or the parents of students or other people so linked directly to activities of the
establishment are entitled to attend to the public performance.
Computer programmes: The IP Law provides that the reproduction, in a single copy, is permitted for
use with a computer for the purpose and extent for which the programme has been obtained, for
archival purposes and for the replacement of the lawfully owned copy. This exception for reproduction
also applies for adaptation of computer programmes in a similar manner. Temporary reproduction is
also permitted where it is made in the process of a digital transmission of the work or an act of making
a digitally stored work perceptible, or such use is caused by authorised person or person making use of
personal use exception and where temporary reproduction is an accessory to transmission or making
perceptible of protected work.
Visually impaired persons: The law permits the free reproduction of a work, specifically for visually
impaired persons in an alternative manner or form which enables their perception of the work. The
exception also includes the distribution of the copies, including copies made outside Rwanda,
17