Patents

Sanctions. The word we hear the most these days. The target is only one: Russia. Due to the unjustified invasion of Ukraine and all the devastation caused to the country and its people.

United States, Canada, the 27 European Union member states, the UK, Montenegro, Switzerland, Albania, Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, North Macedonia, and also Japan, South Korea, Australia, Micronesia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Taiwan – what do all of these countries have in common?

In many countries, a patent can only be registered if it is new, has an inventive step, and is industrially applicable. In addition to meeting these substantial requirements, you also must meet other formal requirements, including legal deadlines.

It turns out that in many jurisdictions there are types of patents with substantial lighter requirements, namely utility models.

The European Patent Office (EPO) has recently announced its new fees, especially filing, search, examination, and renewal related fees, starting from 1 April 2022.

Is it possible to compare the increase that took place in 2020, as well the new fees.

Inventa offers a compilation of articles, authored by our team, on some relevant topics that marked the field of innovation, trademarks, patents and IP rights, mainly in Africa, Europe and Asia.

The year 2021 has been in the spotlight since the previous year. With expectation, in almost every part of the planet, it was a year to strengthen ambitions and achieve objectives, as we all try to adjust to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) is an intergovernmental organisation for cooperation in Intellectual Property matters, founded in 1976 with the Lusaka Agreement. Its main objective is the development and protection of IP rights in its 20 member states. ARIPO has four working protocols, one of which is the Harare Protocol, which regulates patent and industrial design applications.

On September 2021, the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), with the support of the European Patent Office (EPO), launched the ARIPO Regional Patent Examination Training (ARPET) programme.

The programme is predicted to run for 18 months and aims to improve its participants’ capability when conducting high-quality searches, as well as examining local patent applications, incorporating the EPO’s best practices.

ARIPO’s examining activity

Introduction

ARIPO is a regional intellectual property organization that is regulated by several protocols. With regard to patent applications, it is regulated by the Harare protocol whose member states are: Botswana, Kingdom of Eswatini, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Kingdom of Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Filing requests for protection

A patent prosecution process carried by a patent office takes a significant time lasting usually from three to six years. The period from filing the patent application to patent granting depends on several factors, for example the work capacity of the patent office, meeting of the patentability criteria, number of necessary substantive examinations, and some time limits set forth by patent laws and regulations.

In Africa, inventions can be protected by patents through a direct filing in the country of interest using the Paris Convention or through a sole filing in a regional office. With regard to the regional offices, the applicant can choose among the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI), the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), or both, since the OAPI and ARIPO cover different African countries.