BOTSWANA – ARIPO

COUNTRY : REPUBLIC OF BOTSWANA

CAPITAL : GABORONE

LANGUAGE : ENGLISH

 

ARIPO is a comity of 18 Former English Colonies which are also English speaking Countries:

BOTSWANA, GAMBIA, GHANA, KENYA, LESOTHO, LIBERIA, MALAWI, MOZAMBIQUE, NAMIBIA, RWANDA, SIERRA LEONE, SOMALIA, SUDAN, SWAZILAND, TANZANIA, UGANDA, ZAMBIA, ZIMBABWE.

 

African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation known more commonly by its acronym (ARIPO) was established through the Lusaka Agreement and is headquartered at Harare Zimbabwe.

 

Member Nations of the ARIPO have retained significant portions of the legal systems of the countries that colonised them.

However, legal questions regarding infringement and IP matters requiring litigation are to be settled by domestic courts of each state.

 

As per the protocol, an applicant for the grant of a patent can, by filing just one application designate any of the contracting states in which the applicant wishes the invention to be accorded protection. Filing can be done :

  • Directly with ARIPO office; or
  • The IP office of the contracting states.

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