REPUBLIC OF CAPE VERDE BECOMES 22nd ARIPO MEMBER STATE

After signaling its intention earlier this year to join ARIPO, the Republic of Cape Verde deposited its instruments of accession to ARIPO. The Minister of Energy, Trade and Industry, Hon. Alexandre Monteiro, presented the instruments of accession to the Director General of ARIPO, Mr Bemanya Twebaze at a ceremony held at the Embassy of Cape Verde in Geneva, Switzerland on 14 July 2022. Cape Verde acceded to the Lusaka Agreement and simultaneously deposited its instruments of accession to the Harare Protocol, the Banjul Protocol as well as the Swakopmund & Arusha Protocols.

This means that Cape Verde can therefore be designated in ARIPO patent, utility model, design or trademark application filed after 14 October 2022 which is the effective date of Cape Verde’s accession. Cape Verde becomes the 22nd ARIPO member state following the most recent accessions of Mauritius and Seychelles. ARIPO member states now include the following, Botswana, Eswatini, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.  In a move to celebrate this occasion the flag of the Republic of Cape Verde was hoisted at the ARIPO headquarters to mark the shift of the country from an Observer State to a full Member State.

For further information relating to any IP matters in ARIPO please contact aripo@adams.africa

The Minister of Energy, Trade and Industry, Hon. Alexandre Monteiro (left), presenting the instruments of accession to the Director General of ARIPO, Mr Bemanya Twebaze. (image courtesy of Twitter @BemanyaT)