Conclusion: from passive to active voice, or the start of a conversation with Africa

The history of intellectual property in Africa is heavily Eurocentric, defying the Afrocentric paradigm. Western requirements for the protection of intellectual property are contrary to the background of African communities but compatible with the background of societies in the West. In the West, it is generally accepted that technology plays a crucial role in the development of cultural industries and intellectual property law. For example, in the case of copyright, it was the invention of the printing press in the West that led to the requirement of originality and fixation for copyright protection. In contrast, Africa's creativity was primarily oral, even though original, meaning there was no historical requirement for fixation. In addition, the forms of fixation in existence then are not recognised by the copyright law regime today, for example, rock art for literary and artistic works and bronze sculpting for the same type of works. The development of creative industries in Africa is not linked to technology nor even values of a Western orientation, but rather to traditional knowledge-based ones that remain unrepresented in the literature – until now.