Return visit to African Regional Intellectual Property Office (ARIPO)
Posted on Wed, Oct 21, 2009 @ 07:26 PM
by Robert J. Sayre
Sorry that this blog has remained quiet for the past couple weeks--I have been in Africa.
Most American (or European, Japanese, Chinese, etc.) patent attorneys have never filed in Africa, though they should keep an eye on the continent, as patent filings are increasing at the African Regional Intellectual Property Office (ARIPO), even through the recession, while filings in America and in other developed markets have dropped.
Without many patent agents in ARIPO member states (e.g., there are just four patent agents in Zimbabwe), a critical need exists for patent drafters who can help to monetize innovation from African research centers, universities and other institutions. This past year, about 500 patent applications were filed at ARIPO (one of two regional patent organizaions along with French-speaking OAPI), though the overwhelming majority of those applications were filed by applicants from non-member countries, particularly from the United States and particularly directed to, for example, pharmaceuticals.
In the annual joint effort of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and ARIPO to build patent-drafting capacity in Africa, I again participated this past week as a patent-drafting instructor. After traveling to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last year, this year we returned to the ARIPO headquarters in Harare, Zimbabwe with a new group of participants, this time from the following countries: Burundi, Ghana, Liberia, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Seychelles, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. The program included a series of presentations discussing patents and patent-drafting concepts, as well as a series of practical patent claim-drafting exercises. Again, the students were highly committed and made remarkable progress in picking up concepts and skillfully employing claim drafting techniques in just one week.
Again, it was refreshing to meet high-ranking government officials, including the chairwoman of the council of ministers from Lesotho, who fully recognize that a strong intellectual property system is critical to investment and that skilled patent drafting is a critical need in that regard. African leaders recognize that a strong patent system is often needed to introduce new products to a country both from within as well as from outside the country's borders, as many companies will be afraid to enter a market if their innovations cannot be protected. I say "refreshing" because so many anti-patent interest groups in America today have forgotten or refuse to acknowledge this truth.
Patenting at ARIPO can cover 15 member states across Africa, and rules and procedures are governed by the Harare Protocol. As with European patents, ARIPO patents must be validated after issuance in the member states in which protection is sought. Patent rules in Africa mostly resemble European practice (e.g., using the problem-solution approach to evaluate the "inventive step" requirement), though ARIPO also employs some American concepts, such as the "best mode" requirement and the use of a "grace period" for filing after some disclosures (though ARIPO offers only a six-month grace period, rather than the one-year grace period foundin the US, and only for disclosures at officially recognized exhibitions).
The Zimbabwean economy has stabilized--petrol stations have reopened, putting cars back on the road (not necessarily a good thing in my view); and supermarket shelves are once again stocked. Introduction of the US dollar as the official currency earlier this year, after Zim $100,000,000,000,000 (hundred trillion) notes were retired, appears to be the best thing to happen to the Zimbabwean economy in years.
Nevertheless, Morgan Tsvangarai and the MDC announced a boycott of the Zimbabwean "unity government" in combination with Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party (Zanu PF headquarters shown at center in view of city from our hotel, above) due to the criminal prosecution of their appointed cabinet minister of agriculture over the weekend that we were there, which raised questions as to how long the unity government will hold, though there was no immediate apparent impact on safety or city functions.
Video of Bob introducing claim-drafting exercise:
Slideshow: