Ghana

Patent protection is available by way of a national filing, or via an ARIPO or a PCT application designating Ghana. Ghana has implemented the Harare Protocol (which regulates patent and design filings in ARIPO) in its national laws, thereby giving valid patent protection to applicants seeking to obtain a patent via an ARIPO application. Ghana has also enacted provisions to implement the PCT, thereby providing valid patent protection to applicants of international applications designating Ghana.

An invention is patentable if it is new, involves an inventive step and is industrially applicable.

The following inventions are not patentable:

• Discoveries, scientific and mathematical theories
• plants and animals other than micro-organisms
• Schemes, rules or methods for doing business, performing purely mental acts or playing games
• Methods for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy, as well as diagnostic methods practised on the human or animal body; this exclusion shall not apply to products for use in any of these methods
• Inventions, the prevention of the commercial exploitation of which is necessary to protect public order or morality, which includes the protection of human, animal or plant life or health, or the avoidance of serious prejudice to the environment
• Biological processes for the protection of plants or animals other than non-biological and micro-biological processes
• Plant varieties.

An invention is considered new if it is not anticipated by prior art. Prior art consists of everything disclosed to the public, anywhere in the world, by publication in tangible form or by oral disclosure, by use or in any other way, prior to the filing or priority date. Thus, absolute novelty is required.

A formal as well as substantive examination is conducted. The substantive examination follows once all formal requirements have been complied with. For the purposes of conducting substantive examination, the Registrar will take into account the results of any international search report and any international preliminary examination report in relation to the application; a search and examination report relating to a corresponding foreign application; a final decision on refusal to grant a patent on a corresponding foreign application; or a search and an examination report which was carried out upon the request of the Registrar by an external search and examination authority.

Granted patents are valid for 20 years calculated from the filing date. Maintenance fees are payable in respect of pending patent applications and granted patents. An annual fee is payable as from the first anniversary of filing. A grace period of six months is allowed for the late payment of the annual fee, subject to payment of surcharges. If an annual fee is not paid as provided, the patent lapses.

The following works are eligible for copyright protection:

• Literary works
• Artistic works
• Musical works
• Sound recordings
• Audio-visual works
• Choreographic works
• Derivative works
• Computer programs·
• expressions of folklore.

Copyright does not extend to ideas, concepts, procedures, methods or other things of a similar nature.

To qualify for copyright protection, a work must be original and must have been fixed in any medium of expression. Furthermore, the work must have been created by a citizen or resident of Ghana or first published in Ghana (or within 30 days of its first publication outside of Ghana). A work in respect of which Ghana has an obligation under an international treaty to protect, will also be granted protection.

There is provision made for the registration of copyright at the Ghana Copyright Office. However, registration is entirely voluntary and is not a requirement for the existence of copyright.

Copyright endures for the lifetime of the author plus 70 years after his death. In the case of audio-visual works or sound recordings, the period of protection is 70 years. The moral rights endure in perpetuity. In the case of 2 or more co-authors, it continues for 70 years beyond the last surviving co-authors death.

Design protection is obtained by way of:

• Design registration through ARIPO designating Ghana
• National registration in Ghana (for textile designs only).

As indicated above, registration under the Hague Agreement is uncertain.

A design is defined as a composition of lines or colours, any three‐dimensional form or any material, whether or not associated with lines or colours.

A textile design is an industrial design where the composition, form or material gives a special appearance to a product of industry or handicraft and can serve as a pattern for a product of industry or handicraft.

A design registration does not protect anything which serves only to obtain a technical result to the extent that it leaves no freedom as regards arbitrary features of appearance. A design contrary to public order or public morality is not registrable.

In order to be registrable, a design must be new. A design is regarded as new if it significantly differs from known designs or combinations of known design features. A grace period of 12 months preceding the filing date or (where applicable) the priority date of the application is provided, if the disclosure of the design was as a result of acts committed by the applicant or the applicant’s predecessor in title, or as a result of an abuse committed by a third party with regard to the applicant or his predecessor in title.

Applications are examined as to form and conformity with the novelty provision and definition of a design as contained in the Act.

The initial term of the design registration is five years, which period is extendible upon payment of renewal fees for two further five year terms. A grace period of six months is provided for late payment of renewal fees, subject to surcharges.