The ARIPO

The African Regional Industrial Property Organization (ARIPO) is a central filing system comprised of members of sixteen (16) African States. The member states are:

Botswana, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The objectives are to promote, harmonize and develop the industrial property systems in the region. Although most of the members are from English speaking African States, membership is not limited on the basis of language, rather it is open to African States which are members of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and/ or members of the Organization of African Unity.

There are two Protocols, the Harare and Banjul, passed by the membership of ARIPO. The Harare Protocol governs registration of patents and industrial designs, while the Banjul is for trademarks. The ARIPO filing system under these Protocols does not replace but rather coincides with the national system of each member state which has acceded and ratified the Protocol. Accordingly, owners have the option to select either system for protection of their rights. With respect to patents,all member states with the exception of Somalia have ratified the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). As for the Banjul Protocol on Trademarks, thus far only eight of the member states have ratified the Protocol:

Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Uganda,
United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

The office for ARIPO is situated in Harare, Zimbabwe which has been its host for the past twenty (20) years.

N.B. The above information has been extracted from the ARIPO Bulletin. For further details you may contact us or ARIPO or visit their website.