User:Pajz/aripo

The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), formerly African Regional Industrial Property Organization, is an intergovernmental organisation promoting cooperation among African states in patent and other intellectual property matters. ARIPO was established under the Lusaka Agreement of 1976 and currently administers four protocols related to patents and industrial design (Harare Protocol), trademarks (Banjul protocol), traditional knowledge and expressions of folklore (Swakopmund Protocol), and plant varieties (Arusha Protocol). The latter is not yet in force.

ARIPO is one of two sub-regional intellectual property organisations in Africa, the other being the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI). Broadly speaking, OAPI is primarily comprised of French-speaking countries (former French colonies), whereas ARIPO's 19 member states are mostly English-speaking (former British colonies).

Background: Intellectual property in the colonial era
When, in the first half of the 20th century, a majority of Africa was still under the rule of European governments, intellectual property matters were largely governed by the domestic laws of the colonial powers. In the British colonies specifically, the colonial governments used to have wide latitude in establishing their own intellectual property legislation earlier in the colonial period—a power they used to different extents. Towards the end of the 19th century, however, and in particular in the early 20th century, substantial efforts were made within the British Empire to unify the existing regulations: In the area of copyright, for instance, the Imperial Copyright Act of 1911 was binding on all colonies (with some local deviations permitted). And even though the project of an "Empire patent" eventually failed, the colonies at the beginning of the 20th century modelled their patent laws after that of Great Britain.

During the same time, a series of multilateral treaties entered into force, by the colonial powers, beginning with the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (1883) and, in the area of copyright law, the Berne Convention (1886).

After the former colonies had gained independence from their colonial powers, it

Members
(Tanzania does not include Zanzibar, which operates under its own, independent intellectual property regime and maintains a separate office for the registration of intellectual property. )

, five countries have signed the Arusha Protocol of 6 July 2015 (Gambia, Ghana, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Tanzania). However, so far only one country has ratified or acceded to it (Rwanda, on 7 June 2019). For the Protocol to enter into force, four countries need to have deposited their instruments of ratification or accession.

Observers
, 12 states have observer status at the ARIPO, to wit:

• # 🇩🇿 Algeria

• # 🇦🇴 Angola

• # 🇧🇮 Burundi

• # 🇪🇬 Egypt

• # 🇪🇷 Eritrea

• # 🇪🇹 Ethiopia

• # 🇱🇾 Libya

• # 🇲🇺 Mauritius

• # 🇳🇬 Nigeria

• # 🇸🇨 Seychelles

• # 🇿🇦 South Africa

• # 🇹🇳 Tunisia

Organs
ARIPO’s organisational structure consists of four organs: the Council of Ministers, the Administrative Council, the Secretariat, and the Board of Appeal.