Adams & Adams are excited to announce that we will be attending the virtual ARIPO Admin council meeting taking place on 16- 20th November. Watch this space as we keep you updated on developments coming out of this meeting brought to you by our Partners Mariette Du Plessis and Nthabi Phaswana.
It is that time of the year – ARIPO. Normally we would have been preparing ourselves to travel to one of the ARIPO member states to attend the ARIPO Administrative Council meeting. However, this year, we will be attending the meeting virtually, due to ongoing travel restrictions imposed as a result of COVID- 19.
Whilst many organizations experienced disruptions to their normal workings due to COVID-19 , we are pleased to confirm that the ARIPO Office managed to provide uninterrupted services throughout the pandemic. Applications are filed and processed electronically without any delays.
Because of the infrastructure set up at ARIPO, we even managed to virtually attend, in July, the Ninth Session of the Working Group on the Improvement of the ARIPO Protocols Relating to Industrial Property . During the Working Group Session, we submitted and discussed various proposals for amending the Protocols. The proposed amendments will be tabled at the Administrative Council meeting which will be held online from 16 to 20 November 2020. If accepted, these amendments will become part of the Protocols, effective 1 January 2021.
There were several noteworthy proposals to amend the Harare Protocol which we hope will be tabled and passed into law. Some of the proposed changes include an extension of the term of protection for designs to 15 years, allowing for the submission of 3rd party observations and provisions for responding to refusal of patent applications by ARIPO member states.
