Workshop on TRIPS

From 28 to 30 May 2024, the World Trade Organisation, in collaboration with Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, hosted a 3-day national workshop on the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (“the TRIPS Agreement”). Although Nigeria has been a signatory of the TRIPS Agreement since 1994, the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement have not yet been domesticated into Nigeria’s local IP laws, in line with its Constitution. The purpose of the workshop was to educate Nigerians, and in particular, IP stakeholders, including the various Nigerian Registries on the salient provisions of the TRIPS Agreement. To this end, the workshop covered various topics including patents and undisclosed information under TRIPS, TRIPS and public health including access to medicines, genetic resources and traditional knowledge, copyright, biodiversity and biotechnology patenting under TRIPS, and geographical indications.