Copyright Board Warns Kenyans Over Cadbury's 'In Our Own Words' Campaign

The Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) has warned Kenyans against participating in a campaign run by Cadbury.

The State agency on Monday raised a red flag over what it termed as unethical terms of competition.

In the campaign dubbed ‘In Our Own Words’, the UK-based confectionery company requires authors to submit original Kenyan tales which would then be published in a book for children to read. It is aimed at encouraging book reading among children.

“It has come to the attention of the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO), that Cadbury is running a campaign dubbed ‘In Our Own Words’… The campaign requires authors to forfeit their moral rights to be recognized as an author in connection with their work as well as their economic rights in their literary work in return for a mere thank you note,” KECOBO said in a statement.

“As such, KECOBO has written to Cadbury to renew the terms of the competition or withdraw it entirely. The public is advised to avoid the campaign until authors’ rights are well recognized and paid for.”

The copyright board argued that the move by Cadbury was unethical and amounts to subjecting writers to degrading treatment while taking away their intellectual property rights.

“While economic rights can be transferred for a remuneration under Section 26 of the Copyright Act, moral rights under Section 32 of the Act are not transmissible under any circumstances,” KECOBO added.