Industrial Design

The Web Summit 2025 took place from November 10 to 13 in Lisbon, Portugal. João Batalha, Luís Caixinhas, Sara Fonseca, and Yasmin Sabra attended the event to network, exchange ideas, and explore a wide variety of innovative projects and startups, gaining valuable insights into developments across multiple industries.

Africa’s fashion industry is booming, creating more job opportunities across the continent. Driven by youth, culture, and growing global interest, the sector is gaining international recognition through designers, brands, and events.

On September 19th, the Global Creative Legal Summit took place at the Landmark Event Center in Lagos. The summit gathered thought leaders, legal experts, and innovators to explore emerging trends, shaping IP policy and creative law awareness.
This year’s event theme was "training Africa's legal talent for a connected, creative and commercial market," creating a platform for learning and the exchange of ideas.

Crystal Zhang attended the China International Trademark Festival (CTF) in Taiyuan, China from September 5th to 8th and CIPAC 2025 on September 11 and 12 in Beijing, China.

Both events brought together leading professionals to explore the latest developments and challenges in the IP field. It was a fantastic opportunity to connect with colleagues to exchange insights. Here are some moments from the events:

Some moments at CTF

From September 13th to 16th, the AIPPI World Congress was held in Yokohama, Japan.

During the four-days, the event featured panel discussions, keynote speakers and social events, covering a wide range of topics. These included IP’s role in artificial intelligence and Japan’s legal traditions, with sessions on AI & copyright, patent law, trademarks in fashion, pharma innovation, creative works in the digital world, non-traditional trademarks, the rise of “dupes” in luxury goods, and protection of designs and user-generated content.

The Zanzibar Industrial Property Office (ZIPO) has implemented a significant increase in official fees for intellectual property services, effective August 11, 2025. The changes, published in the Government Gazette Vol. CXXXIV No. 7369 on July 18, 2025, falls under the Zanzibar Business and Property Registration Agency (Fees) regulations.

Ethiopia is now a signatory to the Paris Convention and the Madrid Protocol, with both set to enter into force on August 15, 2025. This upcoming integration is expected to simplify the protection of patents and trademarks allowing applicants to claim earlier filing dates and submit international applications through the WIPO system. This measure strengthens the enforcement of intellectual property and promotes investment and technology transfer. The accession marks a strategic step in Ethiopia’s broader efforts to modernize its IP system.

The concept of artificial intelligence (AI) is a global phenomenon that has taken over every aspect of life. AI is the possibility and capability of computer systems to perform human-designed tasks with little or no errors. Early innovators and researchers of AI believed that human intelligence and behaviour could be neatly copied and translated by intelligent machines that had been designed to do so. In Nigeria and globally, AI has been widely accepted and indoctrinated across various fields of life.