The Africa IP SME Helpdesk assists EU businesses by organising training events, publishing IP resources, and replying to queries on IP issues in Africa through its helpline service.

On 15 March 2023, ARISE+ IPR will host a hybrid Conference on Regional Intellectual Property Systems in Bohol, Philippines. The aim of this conference is to further discuss the recommendations outlined in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Trade Mark Registration System feasibility study and to learn from the heads of the regional IP offices, whose experiences were also shared in the feasibility study.

On 15 February 2023, CarIPI collaborated with the International Trademark Association (INTA) to host a webinar on the formal requirements for trade mark applications, targeting the IP offices in the English-speaking Caribbean. The discussion covered matters related to best practices, formalities and classification issues in particular. Legal experts from the EUIPO and the UK IP office were invited to participate in the discussion and share their practice.

This activity is a continuation of the Communications Training on the ARIPO Regional Intellectual Property Rights System in AWP2. The activity aims to provide the participants, namely government communicators and journalists, with tools and support to help them increase the awareness of intellectual property rights among various stakeholders in the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) Member and Observer States.

This activity aims to provide ARIPO Member States with technical assistance on a pilot (meeting AfrIPI’s criteria for support) to register their associated name as a Geographical Indication (GI) in their national system.

Additionally, the activity will be an opportunity to suggest studies that could assess the potential for any given product to function as a sustainable GI. It will also be an opportunity to provide the Member States with assistance in bring together a GI managing group and/or GI specifications and control plans, as the case may be.

This activity aims to support individual countries, such as Nigeria, that have expressed the need to adopt a standalone system for protecting geographical indications (GIs). It will allow those countries to align with efforts to promote high-level protection for GIs at a continental level, as is the case for the OAPI system.

The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), are delivering a comprehensive Intellectual Property (IP) Master’s Programme in English to three universities in Africa: Africa University (AU) in Zimbabwe, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana and the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) in Tanzania.

On 21 April 2023, the EU Georgia Intellectual Property Project will organise the last of a series of courses designed for the Sakpatenti Intellectual Property Training Centre of Georgia. This session will focus on EUIPO Boards of Appeal’s (BoA) decisions.

During the 1-day event, experts from the European Union Intellectual Property Office will present how decisions are drafted at the BoA.

This activity aims to increase intellectual property awareness among researchers, staff, and students from academic and research institutions in ARIPO Member States. It will promote the creation, protection and use of IP tools to achieve economic and technological development.