Prosecution

Sanctions. The word we hear the most these days. The target is only one: Russia. Due to the unjustified invasion of Ukraine and all the devastation caused to the country and its people.

United States, Canada, the 27 European Union member states, the UK, Montenegro, Switzerland, Albania, Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, North Macedonia, and also Japan, South Korea, Australia, Micronesia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Taiwan – what do all of these countries have in common?

We are honoured to announce that Inventa is one of the 2022 trademark practice firms in the IP Stars Portugal ranking for Trade Mark Prosecution.

This recognition is only possible due to our outstanding team and the feedback given by our fantastic colleagues and clients, as it also reinforces our commitment to continue to be a leading IP company in all the jurisdictions we operate.

On January 7, 2022, the Cape Verdean Parliament approved the accession of the country to the Lusaka Agreement, which also incorporates the accession to Banjul and Harare Protocols. On January 27, the parliament approved the accession to the Swakopmund Protocol. The Instruments of Accession will be deposited with the ARIPO Director General on a later date, yet to be defined.

In many countries, a patent can only be registered if it is new, has an inventive step, and is industrially applicable. In addition to meeting these substantial requirements, you also must meet other formal requirements, including legal deadlines.

It turns out that in many jurisdictions there are types of patents with substantial lighter requirements, namely utility models.

The European Patent Office (EPO) has recently announced its new fees, especially filing, search, examination, and renewal related fees, starting from 1 April 2022.

Is it possible to compare the increase that took place in 2020, as well the new fees.

The design of a product can be protected by an intellectual property right through a registration before an intellectual property office. In this article, it will be compared the design systems of China and European Union.

In general terms, the scope of protection of a design encompasses the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colors, shape, pattern, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation.

The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) is an intergovernmental organisation for cooperation in Intellectual Property matters, founded in 1976 with the Lusaka Agreement. Its main objective is the development and protection of IP rights in its 20 member states. ARIPO has four working protocols, one of which is the Harare Protocol, which regulates patent and industrial design applications.

On September 2021, the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), with the support of the European Patent Office (EPO), launched the ARIPO Regional Patent Examination Training (ARPET) programme.

The programme is predicted to run for 18 months and aims to improve its participants’ capability when conducting high-quality searches, as well as examining local patent applications, incorporating the EPO’s best practices.

ARIPO’s examining activity

Cape Verde, an island state formed by an archipelago of 10 islands, benefits from its geographic position and has an economy based on the services sector, including trade, transport, tourism, public services, and exports of fish and clothing.

Introduction

ARIPO is a regional intellectual property organization that is regulated by several protocols. With regard to patent applications, it is regulated by the Harare protocol whose member states are: Botswana, Kingdom of Eswatini, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Kingdom of Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Filing requests for protection