Adams & Adams Practical Guide to Intellectual Property in Africa

Adam S

Description

The compilation of a comprehensive guide to Intellectual Property Laws and Procedures in Africa has long been a goal for academics and practitionersalike. Over the years this encouraged Adams & Adams to produce handbooks on aspects of the intellectual property laws and procedures in Africa, on a fairly limited scale. However, the rapid development on boththe economic and legislative fronts in Africa over the past 10 years prompted us to consider a more detailed publication. This has now been made possible through generous funding by the World Bank, facilitated by the University of Pretoria through the Faculty of Law and the Pretoria University Legal Press.Some 12 years ago, The Economist Magazine labelled Africa ‘the hopeless continent’ but rather than shrivel, the continent has experienced one of the fastest economic growth rates in the world. In a recent World Bank report, it was estimated that Foreign Direct Investment in Africa will reach US $150 billion in 2012, up from US $84 billion in 2010. Investors are taking a long term view of the prospects in Africa and investing heavily in infrastructure projects on the continent.Africa is vast, covering in excess of 30 million square kilometres which would accommodate India, USA, Argentina, China and Western Europe including the British Isles. Africa has the world’s fastest growing population which is likely to top 1 billion within the next five years and can provide a significant share of the world’s future workers. By contrast, in many countries there has been a decline in people of a working age. A number of African countries are urbanising at a rapid rate which is creating significant demand for infrastructure, goods and services. The continent is rapidly emerging as a market driven by commodity and oil prices, stable macroeconomic environments, investments from large emerging markets as well as rising internal consumer spending. In addition to the size of the continent, Africa has a large percentage of available arable land and has the potential to develop agricultural resources. The Economist Magazine has forecast that the bulk of the top 10 fastest growing economies in the world over the next five years will emerge from Africa.Challenges undoubtedly still remain, particularly on the political front. Nevertheless, with a few notable exceptions, most African economies have recorded solid improvements across all the economic, political and social indicators. Developing local laws, protecting the environment, respecting human rights and supporting local entrepreneurs will be central to the continued growth of business in Africa. Crucial to economic development and investment is a need for African countries to make significant improvements on the legislative front to bring themselves in line with developing and developed nations. Failure to develop local legislation has a profound effect on the prospects of sustained investment. In particular on the intellectual property front, there have been significant improvements in many African territories and thus we believe that it was opportune to highlight the various African Intellectual Property Laws in a consolidated compendium for a better understanding of what is required in order to protect intellectual property rights in Africa.Despite the legislative developments in most African territories, there are still difficulties in accessing detailed information relating to intellectual property in Africa, which is often as a result of antiquated laws, systems and procedures in some countries and territories. Accordingly, the accuracy of the information in the manual is subject to the constraints of current laws and procedures. In those instances where laws and procedures are possibly incomplete and/or antiquated, our comments are based on practical experience gathered over many years of working in Africa.Adams & Adams is spending significant time and effort in developing IP law in Africa by assisting Ministries and Registries throughout Africa in developing their laws and procedures, and at the same time working closely with African lawyers throughout the continent. In addition to handling IP cases on a regular basis in all 54 African countries and territories, we have established associated offices in a number of countries and in the two regional IP organisations, ARIPO and OAPI. Plans to establish furtherassociated offices in East, Central and West Africa are at an advanced stageWe believe and hope that this book will assist in understanding how the various IP laws in Africa operate and afford intellectual property owners the opportunity of successfully protecting their rights.As with other projects like this one, I was proud to observe the dedication and thoroughness which our partners and colleagues put into the production of the book. It was no easy task to obtain, translate, collate and compile the IP laws of 54 different countries and territories.Once again, all this occurred under the eagle eye of our Editor and Senior Consultant, Prof Esmé du Plessis. She kept matters under tight control and did a vast amount of writing, correcting and conforming of the drafts. We at Adams & Adams thank the entire team for their hard work and commitment and for putting our name to such a work.My own belief is that their efforts have resulted in a unique publication which will be used by many who are looking at the opportunities for investment in Africa. Perhaps our colleagues’ efforts will contribute in some way to the development of the continent for the benefit of all. We hope so.Dario TanzianiChairman: Adams & AdamsApril 2012About the editors:Adams & Adams is a leading South African law firm specialising in intellectual property law, in addition to providing general commercial legal services. The firm has grown into a South African law icon, with the largest intellectual property law practice supported by a strong commercial, property and litigation practice.

Sujets

• Droit
• JUSTICE

Informations

• Publié par: PULP (Pretoria University Law Press)
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 3
• EAN13: 9781920538095
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

 

 
Adams & Adams 
Practical Guide to  
Intellectual Property in Africa 

 
 
 
 
Adams & Adams Practical Guide to Intellectual Property in Africa
Published by:
Pretoria University Law Press (PULP)
The Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) is a publisher at the Faculty of Law,
University of Pretoria, South Africa. PULP endeavours to publish and make available
innovative, high-quality scholarly texts on law in Africa. PULP also publishes a series
of collections of legal documents related to public law in Africa, as well as text books
from African countries other than South Africa.
For more information on PULP, see www.pulp.up.ac.za
Printed and bound by:
ABC Press
Cape Town
To order, contact:
PULP
Faculty of Law
University of Pretoria
South Africa
0002
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
[e-mail]
www.pulp.up.ac.za
Cover:
Jeanine Jooste, NGD&A, [phone]
ISBN: 978-1-920538-09-5
THE WORLD BANK
Washington, D.C.
Adams & Adams Practical Guide to Intellectual Property in Africa forms part of the Rule of Law
in Africa Project funded by the World Bank
 

 
Adams & Adams 
Practical Guide to  
Intellectual Property in Africa 
 
 
 
 
Compiled and authored by 
Adams & Adams 2012 
 
 
Editorial Committee 
Esmé D. du Plessis (Managing Editor);  
Simon Brown; Dario F. Tanziani (Chairman, Adams & Adams) 
 
Adams & Adams Authors 
 
Esmé Desiré du Plessis Gavin Salomon Kotze
BSc (Chem & Maths)   BSc (Chem & Eng) 
LLB Patent Attorney  BProc Patent Attorney 
   
   
Simon Barratt Brown  Megan Moerdijk 
BLC LLB Trade Mark Attorney  BA LLB Trade Mark Attorney 
   
Kelly‐Marie Thompson  Jennifer Pienaar 
BA LLB Trade Mark Attorney  BA LLB Trade Mark Attorney 
   
Nicolette Garnett  Nthabisheng Phaswana 
BA LLB Attorney   LLB LLM Attorney 
   
 
 
Pretoria University Law Press 
Pretoria 2012 

 

 
Table of Contents 
 
 
 
Preface ..................................... ii  Lesotho ..................................... 240 
Acknowledgement ................... iv  Liberia ....................................... 256 
Glossary: acronyms and    Libya ......................................... 272 
abbreviations ......................... vi  Madagascar .............................. 286 
Table of appendices ................. viii  Malawi ...................................... 301 
Map of Africa ............................ ix  Mali .......................................... 317 
African Regional Intellectual      Mauritania ................................ 319 
  Property Organisation   Mauritius .................................. 321 
  (ARIPO) ................................... 1  Morocco ................................... 335 
Algeria ...................................... 16  Mozambique ............................ 354 
Angola  33  Namibia .................................... 373 
Benin ........................................ 51  Niger ......................................... 391 
Botswana .................................. 53  Nigeria ...................................... 393 
Burkina Faso ............................. 71  Organisation Africaine de la 
Burundi ..................................... 73  Propriéte Intellectuelle  
Cameroon ................................. 88     (OAPI) .................................... 410 
Cape Verde ............................... 90  Rwanda ..................................... 433 
4  São Tomé and Principe (St Thomas Central African Republic ........... 10
Chad ......................................... 106  and Prince’s Islands) ............... 449 
Comoros ................................... 108  Senegal  462 
Congo, Republic of the ............. 112  Seychelles ................................. 464 
Democratic Republic of   Sierra Leone ............................. 477 
   the Congo .............................. 114  Somalia ..................................... 488 
Djibouti ..................................... 128  South Africa .............................. 492 
Egypt ........................................ 137  St Helena .................................. 527 
Equatorial Guinea ..................... 157  Sudan ........................................ 534 
Eritrea ....................................... 159  Sudan, South ............................ 550 
Swaziland ................................. 552 Ethiopia .................................... 161 
Gabon  179  Tanzania ................................... 567 
Gambia, The ............................. 181  Togo .......................................... 601 
Ghana  197  Tunisia ...................................... 604 
Guinea ...................................... 214  Uganda ..................................... 621 ‐Bissau ........................... 216  Zambia  637 
Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) ........ 218  Zimbabwe ................................. 657 
Kenya ........................................ 220  Appendices ............................... 679
 
i 

 

 
Preface 
 
 
 
 
The compilation of a comprehensive guide to Intellectual Property Laws and 
Procedures in Africa has long been a goal for academics and practitioners 
alike.  Over  the  years  this  encouraged  Adams  &  Adams  to  produce 
handbooks on aspects of the intellectual property laws and procedures in 
Africa, on a fairly limited scale.  However, the rapid development on both 
the  economic  and  legislative  fronts  in  Africa  over  the  past  10  years 
prompted us to consider a more detailed publication. This has now been 
made possible through generous funding by the World Bank, facilitated by 
the  University  of  Pretoria  through  the  Faculty  of  Law  and  the  Pretoria 
University Legal Press. 
Some 12 years ago, The Economist Magazine labelled Africa ‘the hopeless 
continent’ but rather than shrivel, the continent has experienced one of the 
fastest economic growth rates in the world. In a recent World Bank report, 
it was estimated that Foreign Direct Investment in Africa will reach US $150 
billion in 2012, up from US $84 billion in 2010. Investors are taking a long 
term view of the prospects in Africa and investing heavily in infrastruc