Copyright protection in Kenya is governed by the Copyright Act 2001. Further amendments to the Act were incorporated in the Statutory Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act of No. 18 of 2018. 

Kenya is a member of the Berne Convention, the Brussels Convention, the Phonograms Convention, and Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). 
The Copyright Act protects the following as copyright works:
•Literary
•Musical
•Audio-visual
•Artistic 
•Sound recordings
•Broadcasts 

Literary works under the Copyright Act are defined to include:

Novels, poems, computer programs, databases, plays, lecturers, textbooks, broadcasts among others. 

Artistic works on the other hand include: architectural drawings, photographs, maps, paintings among others. 

Copyright in Kenya is automatically granted to the author/ creator of the work as long as the work is put down on any material form. Copyright registration is therefore voluntary and registered with the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO).

Copyright work is granted first to the author/creator of the work unless the work is pegged on commission or in the course of the author’s employment, which the copyright rights will vest in the person who commissioned the author or in the employer. Copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus 50 years after the death of the author. All other copyright works, protection lasts for 50 years from the date of first publication.

The rights afforded to the owner of the copyright work(s) are:
•Economic rights
•Related rights
•Moral rights

Economic rights include the right to reproduce the work in any material form, translate, distribute to the public by way of sale, lease, rent and broadcast as well as communicate to the public.

Related rights include rights of producers of sound recordings, broadcaster’s rights, performer’s rights.

Moral rights grant the author/creator of the work a claim of authorship to the work and prevents third parties from distorting his/her work that would be prejudicial to the author’s reputation. 

The following acts under Copyright Act are exempted from infringement by way of fair dealing:
•Research 
•Private use
•Criticism or review
•Usages for teaching in academic institutions

The above must acknowledge the source of the work. 

Copyright can be transferred by way of assignment or licensing. The transfer of rights can be in full or partial and the transfer must be in writing and signed by the assignor or the licensor.