Author Archives: Tejas-Adams

The African Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) together with the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) held the inaugural conference on Women in Intellectual Property in Kampala, Uganda. The 3 day conference, which took place between 28- 30 August 2024, hosted guests and speakers from several ARIPO countries. Notable speakers included Bemanya Twebaze, the Director General of […]

In 2022 the High Court declared certain sections of the Copyright Act of 1978 unconstitutional following a successful challenge by Blind SA, together with the legal assistance of Section 27. Blind SA contended that the current Copyright Act limits the availability of works in formats that are accessible to persons with print and visual disabilities […]

The Hanga Agritech Innovation Challenge Fund, a collaboration between the Rwandan Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources and the World Bank, is aimed at supporting agri-tech entrepreneurs. The Fund is a USD 2 million facility that aims to address food challenges and advance food innovation in the country. The Chief Technical Advisor in the Ministry […]

The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) has taken a decisive step towards establishing the continent’s first indigenous stock image bank, named the Nigeria Stock Image Bank (NSIB). ARCON inaugurated a 10-member Stock Image Bank Committee tasked with developing and submitting a report to lay the groundwork for implementing the stock image bank. The report is […]

The Kenyan High Court recently clarified the level of evidence required for trade mark owners to successfully obtain injunctions in trade mark infringement proceedings. In a decision involving a peanut wrapper trader, the registered owner of the trade mark STEAME MAX PEANUTS, claimed that the respondent had infringed her registered mark rights by selling peanut […]

On 1 October 2024 the Ethiopian Council of Ministers approved Ethiopia’s ratification of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Madrid Protocol. The ratification documents have been sent to the House of People’s Representatives for approval, and once approved, Ethiopia will officially become a member of the Paris Convention and the […]

ARIPO, in collaboration with the Intellectual Property Rights & Innovation (AfrIPI) Project, recently announced the launch of the ARIPO Intellectual Property Journalists Award competition. The purpose of the competition is to recognise excellence in journalism, that creates public awareness and understanding of intellectual property rights, across the ARIPO Member States. Journalists were invited to submit […]

On 1 October 2024, Ethiopia’s Council of Ministers approved Ethiopia’s accession to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Madrid Protocol for the International Registration of Marks. The ratification documents were sent to the House of People’s Representatives for approval, which is the lower house of the Ethiopian Federal Parliamentary Assembly, […]

Earlier this month, Namibia became the first ARIPO member state to ratify the Kampala Protocol on the voluntary registration of Copyright and Related Rights. The Business and Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA) recently announced that Namibia has become the first of the 22 member states to ratify the Kampala Protocol, speaking to the commitment of the […]

Adams and Adams celebrates another successful annual Africa Network Meeting Pretoria, 11 September 2024 – Adams and Adams hosted its 12th annual Africa Network Meeting, the largest intellectual property (IP) seminar of its kind in Africa, from 4 to 6 September 2024 at its head office in Pretoria. The event provided an opportunity for the […]