Abstract

The Intellectual Property (IP) Rights, Competition and Digital Trade Protocols to the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) each recognise the importance of collaboration for achieving sustainable development, especially in the area of education, as articulated in the African Union Agenda 2063. Previous studies have demonstrated the legal barriers that lopsided knowledge governance regimes pose to achieving this goal, including within the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) region. However, there remains a significant gap in empirical research assessing the actual state of collaboration among key stakeholders such as national IP offices, collective management organisations (CMOs), and libraries, archives and museums (LAMs) in the ARIPO region for implementation of the IP, Competition and Digital Trade Protocols towards promoting knowledge access for quality and inclusive education in the digital environment within the AfCFTA. To address this gap, this article adopts a qualitative methodology through desk research and stakeholder interviews to examine the extent to which national IP offices in the ARIPO region have, and could fruitfully collaborate with CMOs and LAMs for the implementation of the IP, Competition and Digital Trade Protocols to shape knowledge governance regimes that foster information access for quality and inclusive education in the digital environment in ARIPO region. Drawing from stakeholders’ responses, the article identifies and discusses challenges to such collaboration while proffering actionable recommendations to address the challenges.