[The IPKat] [[Book Review] Decolonizing Intellectual Property Law – An Afrocenteric Approach]
Wissam Bentazar
[Book Review] Decolonizing Intellectual Property Law – An Afrocenteric Approach
This is a review of the book Decolonizing Intellectual Property Law (Routledge, 2025), edited by Jade Kouletakis and Nkem Itanyi. The volume unites African academics and practitioners to explore how IP law might look if grounded in African philosophies, customs, and realities rather than Eurocentric models.
Structure of the Book
 |
| The book is available in hardcover. |
The introductionwritten by Nkem Itanyi situates the book’s central claim: that Africa’s creativity and systems of knowledge protection long pre-dated colonial encounters, and that modern IP regimes fail to reflect this heritage. She invokes the African philosophy of Ubuntu “I am because we are” to argue that intellectual property must value community and interdependence as much as individuality and profit.
In Chapter 1, Kouletakis questions the universality of copyright’s familiar building blocks; originality, authorship and fixation, she contrasts them with collective and oral modes of creation across the continent. The argument is not that Africa should reject copyright altogether, but that its conception must be expanded to accommodate forms of creativity that are collaborative and intergenerational.
In Chapter 2, Itanyi brings theory to life through Nigeria’s Nollywood. Drawing on oral storytelling traditions, Itanyi shows how community-based creativity and informal distribution networks sustain an entire industry where formal IP enforcement is weak. Her analysis suggests that innovation can flourish even when it bends, rather than follows, Western copyright orthodoxy.
In Chapter 3, Ayoyemi Lawal-Arowolo turns to history, examining how colonial administrations displaced indigenous protection systems and replaced them with imported legal codes. These “ghosts of colonial statutes,” she argues, still shape African IP regimes today. Customary law, far from being obsolete, could instead inspire a modern, pluralistic model of protection.
Chapter 4, by Ikechukwu Chime, moves from the theoretical to the practical, analysing Nigeria’s evolving IP framework. Chime’s discussion of the 2022 Copyright Act and the work of NOTAP reveals an encouraging yet incomplete picture: laws are modernising, but awareness, enforcement and institutional capacity remain uneven.
In Chapter 5, Nneka Chioma Ezedum examines the Igba Boyi apprenticeship system of Igbo land, a centuries-old practice of mentorship and technology transfer that ensures social mobility through shared benefit. Ezedum compellingly parallels this with global mechanisms such as the Nagoya Protocol, showing that African traditions already embody principles of fairness and sustainability.
Chapter 6, by Regina Obiechine, focuses on patent law and innovation. She critiques the dated 1970 Patent and Designs Act (Nigeria), noting its silence on AI-generated inventions and other emerging technologies. Obiechine calls for alignment between patent policy and national development goals, arguing that IP should stimulate, not stifle, local invention.
Chapter 7, co-authored by Lawal-Arowolo and Andadesoji Kolawole Adebayo, turns to traditional medicine and indigenous knowledge. The authors advocate for a sui generis system that integrates customary law into national frameworks, recognising the value of oral transmission and communal custodianship while maintaining compatibility with international standards.
Chapter 8, by Seun Lari-Williams, offers a cultural perspective on mediation in copyright disputes. He contrasts Western confidentiality-based approaches with community-oriented African ones that emphasise dialogue and reconciliation. His proposed “African mediation” model reintroduces social harmony into IP conflict resolution.
The conclusion, by Kouletakis, ties the threads together. It urges Africa to move “from passive to active voice”, from rule-taker to rule-maker by redefining creativity and ownership in ways that reflect its lived realities. The goal is not isolation but inclusion: a genuinely pluralistic IP order in which African and Western frameworks coexist as equals.
Overall thoughts
This Kat observes that while the book’s strength lies in connecting law to lived experience, it also questions the assumed universality of global IP norms and how they translate across cultures. Rather than rejecting globalization, it invites readers to reshape it: Africa’s participation in WIPO and WTO frameworks need not mean submission; it can mean reinterpretation. For Afro-Arab readers, it also opens reflection on how Islamic principles of fairness and communal stewardship could harmonize with African philosophies like Ubuntu. In an increasingly globalized legal landscape, the message is clear: intellectual property law must speak more than one cultural language, and Africa’s voice deserves to be heard.
Details
Publisher: Routledge, 2025
Extent: 245 pages
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 978-1-032-98571-8