Industrial Design

Following the approved accession of Cape Verde to the Lusaka Agreement (ARIPO), the country now joins four key WIPO treaties: Madrid Protocol, Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement and Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.

Inventa offers a compilation of articles, authored by our team, on some relevant topics that marked the field of innovation, trademarks, patents and IP rights, mainly in Africa, Europe and Asia.

The year 2021 has been in the spotlight since the previous year. With expectation, in almost every part of the planet, it was a year to strengthen ambitions and achieve objectives, as we all try to adjust to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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.

Today we launch Inventa IP Review, an annual compilation with the main Intellectual Property (IP) topics of the previous year, through opinion articles and relevant announcements.

A year has passed since the COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented disruption in global development. But in some way, it also allowed us to be more resilient and find new routes of communicating.

The path of Intellectual Property was no different.

Please be informed that the increase of the official fees for Patents and Designs in South Africa, previously set to occur in October 1st, has now been suspended.

As required by law, the official publication regarding the increase of the official fees is mandatory, however it is yet to take place.

Kindly note that all charges will remain unaltered until further notice.

This e-book contains comprehensive information about Designs in each African jurisdiction, such as requirements for design applications, renewals, licenses, change of name or address, opposition deadlines and other singularities in each country. It also gathers each country's general information and our indicative timeframes for completing a Design registration.

Last November of 2017, the Russian Federation deposited its intrument of ratification of the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industial Designs, adopted at Geneva on the 2nd of July of 1999.

Applicants from countries that belong to the Hague Convention will be able to file one international application that directly covers several countries and Russia will now be an option.

The same will enter into force, in respect of the Russian Federation, on February 28 of 2018.

The Ministry of Trade of the Democratic Republic of Congo announced an increase of about 15% on the country’s official fees regarding intelectual property, that covers trademark, patent and design registrations.

If you wish to know more about this matter, please contact us at africa@inventa.com .

Before the changes resulting from IP Law No. 1/13 of July 28, 2009, trademarks and industrial designs in Burundi were registered for an unlimited period of time.

After the promulgation of the current IP Law, the deadlines for trademarks and industrial designs were officially determined, in which trademarks shall be valid for a period of 10 years from the filing date, with the possibility of indefinite renewals for the same period of time and industrial designs shall be valid for 5 years from the filing date, with the possibility of two renewals of five years each.

The Canada – European Union Trade Agreement (CETA, from Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) aims to facilitate and reduce barriers to trade, as 98% of the trade tariffs will be removed. The deal was recently ratified by the European Parliament. CETA has several Intellectual Property (IP) related provisions which might affect companies that wish to provide goods across borders and protect their IP assets.