Madagascar: biodiversity and patent rights
Madagascar is an island country in East Africa, located in the Indian Ocean. As a result of the island’s long isolation from neighbouring continents, Madagascar is home to various plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth, being therefore considered as a biodiversity hotspot.
Accession of The Republic of Seychelles to the Harare Protocol
Starting on 1st January 2022, applicants of the ARIPO system will be able to designate Seychelles in their patent and design applications. The President of Seychelles, Wavel Ramkalawan, signed the instrument of accession to the Harare Protocol on 26th August 2021.
Patenting Activity before the European Patent Office by Chinese Organizations
The Chinese organizations have been investing in several European markets, and an effective protection by means of the patent system is comprised in the strategy of said organizations. Regarding protection of intellectual assets by means of patents, filing a patent application before the European Patent Office is a common approach to have patents in force in several European countries. The EPO is the regional Patent Office, which covers 38 member states, two extension states and 4 validation states, wherein some of this later group is geographically located outside Europe.
DABUS: the ‘natural person’ problem
The Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience (DABUS) case dates back to August 2019, when a team of academics from the University of Surrey in the UK filed two patent applications in the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), the European Property Office (EPO) and the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), for inventions developed by artificial intelligence (AI).
50 years of Intellectual Property in Africa
In relation to the 50th anniversary of Inventa International, we have been given the challenge to analyze certain intellectual property data over the past 50 years on the African continent.
As it is impossible to cover a panoramic view of the various events, we chose just a few topics we found interesting for this minor-scale study. At the outset, it seems important for us to outline a short introduction about the African continent and the protection of industrial property in the countries of which it is made up.
IP considerations when investing in Egypt
With a population growth rate of 2.25%, Egypt has the second biggest population in Africa, as well as the third-largest economy. The Egyptian government is promoting investment in all economic sectors and is already a continental leader in some. For instance, Egypt is the largest construction market in Africa, with more than $350 billion of active projects.
Just under half (48%) of active projects are represented by the real estate sector. The energy and transport sectors take up second and third places with 18% and 17%, respectively, of active projects.
Compulsory licenses in the access of the vaccine of covid-19 by African countries
Introduction
By the end of 2019, humanity was confronted by a new infectious disease caused by a new coronavirus, the covid-19 that led, on March 11th, 2020 the Word Health Organization (WHO) to declare the state of a global pandemic.
IAM 1000 - Portugal Ranking
Our colleague Vitor Sérgio Moreira, Patent Manager at Inventa International, is one of the top recommended individuals in the IAM 1000 listings in Portugal for 2021.
Vitor's work is guided by efficiency and professionalism, a determining factor for the success of Inventa International and which accompanies the entire team. IAM Patent 1000 is the World’s Leading Patent Professionals, a unique guide that ranks global leaders in providing IP value creation expertise to rights owners.