Teaching Intellectual Property Law at the University of Botswana
By Lydia Lundstedt[*]Associate professor, Law Faculty, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Management and Engineering, Commercial and Business Law, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden; and Former STINT fellow, The Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education, fellow, Law Department, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana. lydia.lundstedt@juridicum.su.se. The author would like to thank Senior Lecturer, Dr Jimcall Pfumorodze for providing feedback on this article and for his generosity, warmth and insightful collaboration during my time at UB.
1. Introduction
Botswana enjoys a relatively high standard of living compared to many other African countries, largely due to its diamond discoveries in the late 1960s.[1]According to the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report released on 13 March 2024, Botswana is ranked 101st globally with an HDI of 0.732, placing it in the ‘High human development’ category. This ranking positions Botswana above many African nations, with only Algeria, Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa and Tunisia ranking higher. United Nations Development Programme, The 2023/2024 Human Development Report, Table 1. However, challenges such as high unemployment and significant disparities in wealth persist. Realizing that diamonds are not forever, the country has developed a diversification plan in order to transition from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy.[2]Botswana, Vision 2036, VISION DESIGN 1 Final CHOICE. Leveraging Botswana’s intellectual property (IP) potential for inclusive and sustainable economic growth and development is an integral step toward this goal.[3]Botswana Intellectual Property Policy 2022. Against this backdrop, my experience teaching intellectual property law as a STINT fellow at the Law Department of the University of Botswana (UB) in the fall of 2024 was both rewarding and insightful. This article first outlines the legal landscape governing IP law in Botswana. It then recounts my experiences teaching IP law at UB before concluding with reflections and recommendations.
