Industrial Property

On January 31, 2020, the Rwanda Development Board issued a notice stipulating that according to law no. 31/2009 the owners of trademarks filed before December 14, 2009 and who have not renewed its trademarks until December 14, 2019 will now be able to count on another 10 months of grace period. Therefore, the deadline to renew the trademarks filed before December 14, 2009 ends on 13 October 2020.

Inventa International attended the "Innovation & IP Forum and Awards", last January 28, in Paris. The event is dedicated to international challenges in matters related to intellectual property, involving patents, trademarks, IP litigation and other related rights, organized annually by the Leaders League.

Diogo Antunes represented Inventa International where we were awarded with the Silver Award in the category of Best IP Advisory in Portugal.

On December 4, 2019 Paris received the Africa Investment Forum, an initiative that gathered more than 700 hundred decision makers, from across several business areas, that debated the development potential of the African continent.

We had Inês Monteiro Alves representing Inventa International at this event, where she had the chance to share some thoughts about the role of Intellectual Property for sustainable economic development.

The WIPR - World IP Review interviewed the Managing Partner of Inventa International, Daniel Reis Nobre, to learn more about the IP panorama across Africa. 

The challenges and opportunities that Africa presents, when it comes to the protection of IP assets were at the center of the conversation.

On November 20th and 21st, Maputo hosted MOZEFO - A Challenge to the Future.

The 2019 edition of this event took place under the theme Africa 2030- Mozambique as a Catalyst for Transformation. The enhancement of Mozambique's traditional riches: agriculture, the key sector of the economy and the livelihood base of 75% of the population; and industry, whose dynamization is essential to the development of the country's economic cycle was on the center of the debate.

Web Summit brought back to Lisbon the most innovative ideas and startups, mainly related to the tech business.

As usual Inventa International team attended this event to raise awareness among entrepreneurs about the best ways to protect their innovations and Intellectual Property assets.

The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) is empowered to grant and administer patents in accordance with the provisions of the Harare Protocol on Patents and Industrial Designs. According to Harare Protocol, patents shall be granted for any inventions, in all fields of technology, provided that they meet the patentability requirements: novelty, inventive step and industrial application.

The Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office (EIPO) has changed the procedure regarding patent search and examination fee, based on Article 28 (2) of the Inventions, Minor Inventions & Industrial Design Regulation Number 12/1997.

According to this new procedure, implemented at the end of the last year, an applicant should pay search and substantive examination fee of USD 200 after filing an application. Although there is no specific period for attending this payment, the EIPO recommends that this should be done as soon as possible.

The 55th Edition of FACIM – Maputo’s International Trade took place this year. For a week Mozambique’s economic agents got together to showcase the potential of this African country.

As in previous editions, Inventa International local team was at this event, where they spoke to producers, investors, business owners and official representatives about the best ways to protect Intellectual Property assets in Mozambique.

A protocol on Patent matters has recently been celebrated between the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) of Portugal and the Institute of Quality and Intellectual Property Management (IGQPI) of Cape Verde, aiming to improve the services provided by the latter.