The 39th Session of the Administrative Council of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) was held in Lusaka, the Republic of Zambia, from 16-18 November 2015. During the Session, the ARIPO office proposed that certain amendments to the official fees for patent, utility model and industrial design filings as well as trade mark filings be made. The amendments that were proposed include a reduction in the filing fee for applications that are filed through the new e-filing system, the introduction of a fee for the change of an agent and an increase in the fees for an extension of time request. In order to encourage the use of the e-filing system, ARIPO proposed a reducti

African economies are growing at an incredibly fast pace. It has been said that next destination for business and investment is Africa as the economic growth in various countries on the continent is on an upward trajectory. Coming to Africa to invest and/or explore business opportunities or bringing in an already established businesses, will at some point entail protecting your intellectual property rights. With 53 countries on the continent, the task of registering your intellectual property in several countries at one time can be daunting. Fortunately there are two regional intellectual property organs that cover French speaking countries in Africa through the African Intellectual Property

The Harare Protocol on Patents and Industrial Designs stipulates that the role of patent agents and attorneys includes, but is not limited to, drafting patent application, representing inventors and assignees at the Patent Office, discussing inventions with inventors and applying for patents on behalf of inventors. Many ARIPO Member States have no institutionalized system of training, examining and enrolling intellectual property agents or attorneys. In these member states qualified lawyers with no further specialized training act as patent agents. Inventions are of a complex and technical nature. Patent agents should possess knowledge about the applicable domain that inventions pertain to.

The Harare Protocol on Patent and Industrial Designs empowers the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) to grant patents, register utility models and industrial designs and to administer such patents, utility models and industrial designs on behalf of contracting states. The Protocol has since its adoption been amended a number of times and the amendments have been undertaken to address specific issues affecting the grant, registration and administration of industrial property titles processed by the ARIPO Office. During the thirty-ninth Session of the Administrative Council of the Organisation, which was held in Lusaka from November 16 to 18 2015, the ARIPO Office prop

The Banjul Protocol on Marks within the framework of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) was adopted by ARIPO member states in 1993 and came into force in 1997. Thus far only 10 of the 19 ARIPO member states have ratified the protocol. These states are: Botswana, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland,Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and São Tomé and Príncipe. Out of the 10 only Botswana, Liberia and Zimbabwe have actually implemented national legislation to give practical effect to the provisions of the protocol. In tracking its progress since inception, experts note that it has not performed as well as expected. The reason for this is that the Protocol is not re

On 16 to 18 November 2015 ARIPO held its 39th session of the Administrative Council in Lusaka, Zambia. The session was subsequently followed by a meeting of the Ministers responsible for Intellectual Property of the member states, held on 19 and 20 November 2015. The Administrative Council comprises of heads (or representatives) of ARIPO member state offices entrusted with dealing with intellectual property matters. The Administrative Council is responsible for recommending policies to the Council of Ministers and supervising the implementation of those policies by the Secretariat. The Council meets at least once a year in ordinary session and its mandated functions include formulating and d

PWC has recently released its report on the entertainment and media outlook for 2015 through to 2019 for South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. PWCs report is currently the only source of comparable forecast consumer and advertising spend data for 11 industry segments across South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. Highlights from the report include predictions on overall growth in the entertainment and media industry. Notably Nigeria’s entertainment industry is set to double its current valuation by 2019 with a valuation of US 8.1 billion dollars which is impressive considering the fact that the entertainment distribution channels in Nigeria are largely informal. Of interest, was the forecast on the rise