ARIPO and the regional patent examination training programme: what to expect

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

ARIPO is one of Africa’s regional offices and encompasses 19 member states (mostly English-speaking countries). Except for Swaziland, all the member countries can grant a national patent in addition to, or instead of, a regional patent.

In ARIPO, the substantive examination takes place after the application has met the formal requirements.