On 25 October 2022, the Technical Working Group of the African Geographical Indications (GIs) Consultative Committee met virtually to prepare the discussion points for the Consultative Committee for the Continental Strategy on GIs in Africa, scheduled in November 2022.
African countries are a key destination for counterfeit goods, such as pharmaceuticals, with all the hazards and dangers that these pose for consumers. At its meeting from 2 to 4 November 2022, in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, AfrIPI, in collaboration with the OAPI, organised a regional conference on the protection and exploitation of African medicinal inventions for OAPI member states.
From 17 to 21 October 2022, four examiners from the African Organization of Intellectual Property (OAPI) will attend a five-day study visit at the European Patent Office (EPO). The course, organised by EPO in cooperation with AfrIPI, is part of an extensive competency-based training programme which began in August 2021 and was customised especially for the OAPI. The programme itself includes a blend of onsite and virtual classroom training, online courses, and on-the-job coaching.
On 25 October 2022, the Africa IP SME Helpdesk is organizing a webinar titled “Doing business in Ghana: IP tips for market access”.
Ghana’s dynamic economy is proving an attractive option for foreign businesses and investors. Recently, IP laws have been put in place that are aligned with international best practices.
On 6 October 2022, AfrIPI and the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) hosted a virtual training session on experience-sharing on the system of voluntary registration of copyright and related rights in other jurisdictions. This activity aims to support ARIPO and its Member States to boost their creative sectors, improve livelihoods and contribute significantly to Africa’s long term sustainable development.
On Tuesday 20 September 2022, the Africa IP SME Helpdesk is organising the webinar ‘Protecting your trade marks at the OAPI’. Recent amendments to the Bangui Agreement – the governing uniform regional convention of the OAPI – have, among other changes, introduced a series of significant changes to the trade mark registration process in the OAPI IP system.
In response to a request from the Kenyan Anti-Counterfeit Authority (ACA) and in accordance with DG Trade, AfrIPI will provide the Government of Kenya with specialised training on the ‘systematic collection and entry into an electronic database, of information from IPR owners regarding their registered IPRs irrespective of their place of registration, for all goods to be imported into Kenya’.
The training event will be held from 4 to 5 October 2022 in Nairobi, Kenya. It will be followed by a study visit to Mauritius in December 2022.
On 6 and 7 September 2022, the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) together with the Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation Project in Africa (AfrIPI) organised training for staff members of the Lesotho Copyright Society of Authors and Artists (LESCOSAA). It took place at the Avani Lesotho Hotel and Casino in Maseru, Kingdom of Lesotho.
There was a need for government communicators and journalists to be equipped to effectively inform their audiences of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) Regional Intellectual Property Rights System, which could be used to raise awareness at a national, regional, and global level. This is because they might not know how to identify and synthesise intellectual property (IP) information so that it can be consumed by the stakeholders (e.g., the general public, innovators, investors, IP agents/attorneys, and IP bodies).
Although the African Regional Intellectual Property Office (ARIPO) has existed since 1976, not many citizens from its 22 member states understand its core business and the benefit of filing through the ARIPO system. This can be attributed to the limited awareness of the system’s intellectual property (IP) and its benefits.