The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) and AfrIPI are hosted a Workshop on Integration and Implementation of Intellectual Property (IP) Tools for the ARIPO Member States on 21 and 22 June 2022. The workshop took place at the ARIPO Secretariat in Harare, Zimbabwe.

On 25-26 June, in an effort to keep raising awareness on intellectual property rights in the CARIFORUM region, the CarIPI team  participated in Mona Law’s 8th annual Symposium on Law, Governance and Society – organised by the University of the West Indies in Jamaica.

After the Madrid Protocol entering into force in Jamaica on 27 March 2022, The Madrid Protocol Booklet for Entrepreneurs in Jamaica has been launched to help small and medium-sized enterprises in Jamaica have a clear understanding of the Madrid System and all its benefits.

In line with international and European best practices and in support of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063, AfrIPI aims to create, protect, utilise, administer and enforce intellectual property rights across Africa. To achieve this, AfrIPI organised two Study visits in 2022.

In support of the production of inventions and institutional innovations for the benefit of enterprises, and to develop innovation platforms in the OAPI member states, three seminars were organised in the 17 OAPI member countries. The objectives were to boost the implementation of collaborative work platforms between universities / research centres and enterprises, to analyse the ecosystem of innovation platforms in OAPI member countries and to propose the establishment of more innovation platforms in the OAPI region.

Georgian judges and representatives from the National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia (Sakpatenti), with the support of the EU-Georgian Intellectual Property Project (EUGIPP), will attend the IP Case Law Conference at the EUIPO premises in Alicante on 7 and 8 July 2022.

CarIPI supported the participation of CARIFORUM representatives from the Intellectual Property Offices and judicial bodies in the IP Case Law Conference at the EUIPO premises in Alicante during 7 and 8 July 2022.

This event is organised by the Boards of Appeal of the EUIPO in cooperation with the EUIPO Academy on a biannual basis, and was held this year in hybrid format.

Following the IP Case Law Conference, CarIPI held an IP Cooperation Workshop with CF stakeholders at the EUIPO premises in Alicante on 11-12 July 2022. The workshop provided an opportunity for Intellectual Property Offices to discuss specific cooperation activities carried out over the past 2 years under the CarIPI Project and to set the framework for future activities. 

Following the election of Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia to form the ad hoc sub-working group on geographical indications (GIs) on 22 March 2022, the first meeting of this sub-group took place online on 16 June 2022.