@Wakanyugi;



I was not suggesting that the guy should claim any further proceeds. In fact my question was supposed to demonstrate that he shouldn't(!),simply because he agreed to the terms of a fixed payment right from the start..
It was NOT an invention. He used equipment bought off-the-shelf and then wrote the control software based on requirements specified by his client (Azicon Ltd). Thus the answer is 'YES',he did pay the 'inventors'

The point I wanted to raise is the mistaken belief amongst many young inventors and system developers that you will always benefit from all future proceeds of the systems that you develop. This is very rare...nay,extremely rare!!

In my work,I have developed manufacturing control programmes for several (very large) companies....surely,that does not mean that they should pay me a percentage of the money they make from the goods produced!!!

It is the same thing with musicians; very few get paid a percentage of revenue generated from sales of their music. They record and get one-off payment. The Producer sells the song and keeps all future profits!! You would have to be very,very,very good to command a percentage! Otherwise,produce yourself and sell the recordings on your own.....I have seen local musicians hawking their CDs on the streets.

@Donedeal;
Have you considered the limitations of the Public Procurements & Disposals Act? It will be very difficult for the council to 'single source' a product.

Behind the gardens...Behind the wall...Under the tree (Including: Red...Dark Blue...Yellow)

@Donedeal - one way out would be to have your idea 'Grandfathered' by a corporation. Lets say you want to do a PPP (public private partnership) - 1. Get a donor involved (they give money to urban planning,modernisation of systems etc). 2. Get a private corporation involved 3. The NCC /CCN involved. Something tells me it has to do with Mobile Payment (I know in Dxb they have started a system where people pay direct from their mobile phones (by specifying the serial # of the parking space,vehicle number - sending this to the local authority - thus removing PEOPLE from the system). I think if you have a mobile payment aspect,then Safcom/Zain would be one of the 3 Ps you need. Once you get the bigs guns involved it is a revenue stream for them....and when it comes to enamouring the local authority...let that be their headache - then have the donor fund the set up and 'incubate' you. So everyone has a stake (you get a cut from running the system,safcom/zain get a cut like they do with Mpesa,CCN/NCC get money direct to their coffers (or to KRA),citizens get hooked to the service and later play a critical role in its persistence i.e. if those that want to misappropriate try to stall or kill the idea. And to give it more reach,involve the Metropolitan ministry.

The problem with equality is that we desire that it be with those that have more than us rather that those that have less

@Djinn,your comments are music to my ears.As a matter of fact i have made up my mind which way to go. Will keep you posted.


May we live in interesting times!

@Donedeal:

If your system works,why don’t you invest and let the other play catch up? I mean,you can approach one of the banks for a loan to start up your business or approach a corporate like say NSSF who have parking spots for them to adopt your system? You don’t have to start by rolling it out to CCN.