ARIPO

Trade Marks

Requirements for Application

(a) Power of attorney, simply signed;
(b) Ten prints of the trade mark - device marks.

Classification

International classification of goods and services. Only Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland allow multiple class applications and any designated state may declare that an application covering two or more classes shall result in a separate registration in each class. An ARIPO registration in respect of services will not be enforceable in member states whose national law does not make provision for the protection of service marks (Malawi and Uganda).

Procedure

The application may be filed directly with the ARIPO office or with the trade mark office of a member state. The applicant shall designate those states in which protection is required. The office where the application is lodged shall examine as to formal requirements. If formalities are complied with, the ARIPO office notifies the trade marks office of each designated state, which will examine in accordance with national laws. These national offices have 12 months to inform the ARIPO office that the registration will have no effect in its territory. If designated states do not communicate such objections, the ARIPO office will confirm the registration. If the national office refuses an application, the applicant has the option of requesting, within three months of the date of receipt of the refusal, that the application be treated as a national application in any designated state.

Opposition

Opposition, cancellation and infringement proceedings are conducted under the national laws of the member country in which they are brought.

Use

Cancellation of a registration, based on the ground of non-use, shall be dealt with in terms of the national laws of the member states.

Duration and Renewal

A trade mark registration shall be for a period of ten years from the date of filing of the ARIPO application, and may be renewed for like periods.

Licensing/Registered Users

The recognition and recordation is dealt with in terms of the national laws of the member states.

Assignments

Assignments are dealt with in terms of the requirements under the national laws of the member states.

Marking of Goods

Refer to member states.

Patents

General

When a patent is granted, it extends automatically to those member countries that have been designated and is generally subject to the respective national laws. The ARIPO office notifies each designated member country of its decision to grant a patent. Each designated member country then has six months in which to notify ARIPO that the patent will have no effect in its territory.

ARIPO is a member of the International Convention and of the PCT.

The ARIPO Patent Office has a discretion to accept the designation, in an ARIPO PCT regional phase application, of any of the ARIPO contracting states which were PCT members at the date of filing of the ARIPO regional phase application even if they were not PCT members when the international application was filed. 

Patentable Subject Matter

Inventions that are new, involve an inventive step, and are industrially applicable, are patentable.

Inventions that are not novel and inventions that are not patentable in the State where protection is sought cannot be protected in that State. For example, methods of treatment are not patentable in many of the ARIPO member states. 

Filing Requirements

Neither legalization nor notarisation of any of the documents is required. The specification must be in English.

Novelty

An invention is new if it has not been made available to the public anywhere in the world by means of written disclosure or by use or exhibition, before the date of filing of the ARIPO application or the priority date. A grace period of six months is provided prior to the filing date or priority date, for disclosure of the invention at an official or officially recognized exhibition.

Examination

The applicant has an option either to file an examination report in respect of a corresponding application in any country, or to pay the examination fee. For PCT national phase applications, an IPRP can be filed instead of an examination report from another country.

Grant and publication fees are payable upon grant where after ARIPO arranges for publication of the patent. 

Duration/Maintenance

The ARIPO Protocol was amended so that the duration in each member country would be twenty years. However, the national legislation in each member country has not been amended, and thus in Malawi, Zambia and in Kenya, where there is no provision for a duration of twenty years, the position is still uncertain.

Maintenance fees are payable on pending ARIPO patent applications annually as from the first anniversary of the filing date. 

Working

In spite of requirements to prove working in some of the member countries, the ARIPO patent office does not require any proof of working but it is uncertain if the courts in each member country would agree if enforcement is attempted in that country.

Licences/Assignments

Licences and Assignments must be recorded at the ARIPO registry and the ARIPO office advises any designated country affected.