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14 October 2021PatentsMarisol Cardoso

Patents in Africa: ARIPO vs contracting states' laws

In Africa, inventions can be protected by patents through a direct filing in the country of interest using the Paris Convention or through a sole filing in a regional office. With regard to the regional offices, the applicant can choose among the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI), the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), or both, since the OAPI and ARIPO cover different African countries.

When it comes to OAPI, only a regional patent can be obtained for the contracting member states since they do not have national IP laws. With regard to ARIPO, except for Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), all the remaining 18 countries can grant a national patent in addition to, or instead of, a regional patent.

Since the member states of ARIPO have national IP laws which coexist with the legislation adopted by the regional office, the patentability criteria of the designated states are also considered, which may cause conflict when performing the substantive examination of an invention.

Patent examination procedure in ARIPO

ARIPO has been following the dispositions of the Harare Protocol, which has regulated the procedures and substantive requirements for the protection of inventions among its member states since it was adopted in 1982.

The patent application is first submitted to an “examination on filing”, which aims to determine whether it meets the minimum requirements for according a date of filing, such as the designation of at least one contracting state, the information about the applicant, a description and one or more claims.

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