A review of 14 case studies shows remarkable opportunities to alleviate poverty through IP business strategies

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA,. - June 6th, 2008 - Light Years IP a Washington, DC non-profit organization yesterday launched a new report on the potential for Intellectual Property (IP) business strategies to increase and secure income for low-income producers in sub-Saharan Africa.

Ron Layton, CEO of Light Years IP stated: "Billions of dollars of additional export income for low-income producers across Sub-Saharan Africa can be secured by using the IP business concepts that we applied to the very successful Ethiopian fine coffee initiative—which has doubled the income of some coffee farmers."

The report examines the scale of untapped IP business opportunities among distinctive African products to dramatically increase the income that small-scale producers receive. Experts contributing to the study estimate the scale of that income increase to be somewhere between 230% to 320%--far above the 1.6% annual growth in non-mineral exports over the past decade.

"The Department for International Development sees the innovative use of Intellectual Property-based strategies by low-income producers in Sub-Saharan Africa as a valuable tool in poverty alleviation" said UK Secretary of State for International Development Douglas Alexander at the launch event."We were delighted to support this report, which is a reflection of our view that these strategies are important, and we will continue to be actively involved."

The report will be followed by workshops for low income-producers to develop and implement appropriate IP-based strategies. Concurrently, Light Years IP is conducting feasibility studies on several projects, and is in the advanced stages of establishing a $25m investment fund to assist producers in implementing these IP business strategies.

To learn more about these initiatives, visit the following:

• The new report (with supplemental information),"Distinctive values in African Exports":www.lightyearsip.net/scopingstudy

• The Ethiopian Fine Coffee Project: www.ethiopiancoffeenetwork.com
• Learn more about Light Years IP: www.lightyearsip.net
• To stay up to date, join the mailing list at learnmore@lightyearsip.net