Barcelona 2017: Maura Canavan of Rouse Africa moderated an interesting and lively discussion on hot IP topics in Africa yesterday morning. Her session discussed various IP topics which are currently impacting (both negatively and positively) the African continent. In Africa, we often talk about the 'Big 5' in terms of the wildlife found on the continent. In terms of "Hot" IP topics in Africa, Maura took the participants through 5 IP topics currently making waves on the continent, linking them to the well known characteristics of the Big 5 animals. Great participation from the attendees from South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia and Cameroon led to a useful exchange of updates. Participants w
Last year Rouse Africa attended the first INTA conference held on the Continent. The 2 day meeting was held in Cape Town South Africa and saw over 190 attendees from 36 countries across the world. Most notable was the number of African agents in attendance which is likely due to the fact that it was in Africa making travel expenses slightly cheaper than other INTA conference venues. Feedback from Rouse Africa meeting participants was that there is a lot happening in terms of IP landscape in Africa and that there are very exciting times ahead. One take away that was reflected in all the presentations and discussions was the marked improvements of the IP systems in various jurisdiction on the
On Wednesday 3 May 2017, the Nigeria Trademark Registry released a new trademark journal, Vol 1, No. 1. 2nd May 2017. This is the first journal to be published in over a year, the last journal was published in March 2016. The Journal was released in hard copy and lists four thousand (4,000) trade mark applications. The advertised applications were filed between 2012 and 2015 and are limited to those applications filed through the manual filing system IPAS. There is currently no information from the Registry as to why this journal is only advertising applications filed through the IPAS system or if a separate journal for e-filings will be published in he near future. Approximately 20,000 tra
