Kenya: Kenya Copyright Board closes consultation on Copyright and Related Rights Bill 2026 including copyright protection regulation

On 31 March 2026, the Kenya Copyright Board closes the consultation on the draft Copyright and Related Rights Bill, 2026. The draft Bill would repeal and replace the Copyright Act No. 12 of 2001. It would provide for the automatic subsistence of copyright in literary, musical, dramatic, artistic, and audiovisual works, sound recordings, broadcasts, and computer programs upon fixation. It would set out exclusive economic rights including reproduction, distribution, public performance, communication to the public, and adaptation. Duration of protection would be 50 years post-mortem for literary, musical, dramatic, and artistic works, and 70 years from first publication or creation for photographs and audiovisual works, and from the year of fixation for sound recordings. It would introduce related rights for performers, producers of phonograms, and broadcasting organisations, including equitable remuneration. Civil remedies would include statutory damages of between KES 200'000 and KES 1'000'000 per work, subject to an aggregate cap of KES 1'500'000, and criminal penalties of up to 10 years' imprisonment would apply for repeat infringement offences.