Co-operative Bank of Kenya (Co-op Bank) has successfully defended itself against a long-standing intellectual property lawsuit. The High Court rejected claims by Intestyl Technologies Ltd, agreeing with an earlier decision by the Industrial Property Tribunal that the fintech company’s patent was not independently viable.
Intestyl had registered a “Computer Implemented Banking System for Real Estate Management” as a utility model in 2020. Their platform was designed to help landlords reconcile real-time mobile payments, notably via M-Pesa. But according to the court, the system depended entirely on Co-op Bank’s existing infrastructure—making it neither truly standalone nor sufficiently novel.
During the trial, Intestyl and its director, Alex Muigai, contended that Co-op Bank had integrated their technology into its Open Banking Project after granting them access through an API service agreement.
They claimed they were allowed to use the bank’s APIs for funds transfer, payment status queries, instant notifications, Pesalink, M-Pesa, and callback functions to build their system.
The company further alleged that they and the bank had collaborated to modify Co-op Bank’s core systems so that their platform would mesh perfectly with the bank’s infrastructure.
They argued that Co-op then went ahead to license similar functionality to third parties—without their approval.
However, the court rejected these claims. It described Intestyl’s system as a “parasitic” add-on rather than a self-sufficient innovation, primarily because it could only work when deeply integrated with Co-op Bank’s core banking systems.
The judgment emphasized that, under Kenyan law, abstract business methods do not automatically qualify for patent protection—especially when they depend on third-party systems.
The court went on to note that Intestyl failed to detail sufficient technical information to prove that their system could function without Co-op’s machinery. As such, it declined to grant them injunctive relief or recognize their claims of misuse.
Co-op Bank, for its part, had argued that Intestyl’s model was flawed: not only was it reliant on Co-op’s Pesalink and M-Pesa APIs, but it also lacked real industrial applicability and originality.
