African Regional Intellectual Property Organization

The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), formerly African Regional Industrial Property Organization, is an intergovernmental organization for cooperation among African states in patent and other industrial property matters. It has the capacity to hear applications for patents and registered trademarks in its member states who are parties to the Harare (patents) and Banjul (marks) protocols. It has the WIPO ST.3 code AP.

Its 18 member states[1] are mostly English-speaking countries. Rwanda became the 18th member state on March 24, 2010.[2][3]

The name of the organization changed from African Regional Industrial Property Organization to African Regional Intellectual Property Organization in 2005.

Contents

Members

  1.  Botswana
  2.  Gambia
  3.  Ghana
  4.  Kenya
  5.  Lesotho
  6.  Liberia
  7.  Malawi
  8.  Mozambique
  9.  Namibia
  10.  Rwanda
  11.  Sierra Leone
  12.  Somalia
  13.  Sudan
  14.  Swaziland
  15.  Tanzania
  16.  Uganda
  17.  Zambia
  18.  Zimbabwe

Observers

  1.  Algeria
  2.  Angola
  3.  Burundi
  4.  Egypt
  5.  Eritrea
  6.  Ethiopia
  7.  Libya
  8.  Mauritius
  9.  Nigeria
  10.  Seychelles
  11.  South Africa
  12.  Tunisia

Rights covered

Together, the two protocols constituting the organisation cover copyright, industrial design, patent, trademark, traditional knowledge and utility model rights.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ ARIPO web site, Member States. Consulted on September 16, 2011.
  2. ^ ARIPO web site, Rwanda Joins ARIPO, News, Thursday, 4 August 2011. Consulted on September 16, 2011.
  3. ^ Rwanda Joins ARIPO, PCT Newsletter, September 2011, No. 09/2010, p. 1.
  4. ^ "ARIPO Patent Office homepage". http://www.aripo.org/articles.php?lng=en&pg=14. Retrieved 2008-02-12. 

External links