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Post Script
Following the post on Botswana immediately below and others on African countries seeking a stronger IP rights culture, Afro-IP weblog notes that it must be difficult to reconcile the balance between a robust IP...
Following the post on Botswana immediately below and others on African countries seeking a stronger IP rights culture, Afro-IP weblog notes that it must be difficult to reconcile the balance between a robust IP...
Cabinet minister Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi has urged universities, research and technology transfer institutions to focus on using their intellectual property in a meaningful way to help the economy. Speaking at a workshop held with WIPO...
Morocco-based start-up Nemotek has become the first licensee of Tessera Technologies' OptiML Wafer-Level Camera (WLC) chip-packaging technology, which makes it possible to manufacture thousands of lenses simultaneously on a semiconductor wafer, reports EE Times. Nemotek...
Afro IP has come across a recent trade mark decision of Kenya's Court of Appeal (British American Tobacco Kenya Ltd ("BAT") v Cut Tobacco Kenya Ltd ("CUTT") ) in which BAT had unsuccessfully attempted...
According to an article in Moneyweb, the reduction of software piracy over the next four years in South Africa could create a stronger local information technology (IT) sector, generate new high paying jobs and contribute...
Vanguard carries an interview with Chidi Chike Achebe, the second son of Chinua and Christie Achebe. Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart was published 50 years ago this year. When asked, "What do you perceive...
Botswana is the latest country to warn consumers against buying Chinese manufactured toothpaste that contains Diethylene Glycol (DEG), a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze and as a solvent, according to AllAfrica. DEG is not recommended...
APOZ or the Anti-Piracy Organisation of Zimbabwe was launched this month as copyright and collective management inspectorate. According to the allAfrica report APOZ is the only organisation that fights piracy in Zimbabwe and has...
Indian company Godrej Consumer Products has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the Kinky hair business in South Africa. Kinky is one of the leading brands in...
AllAfrica reports that a new law giving powers to Tanzania's Fair Competition Commission (FCC) to take action against dealers of counterfeit goods will come into force this year. The FCC is currently only allowed to...
Africa's Cup of Nations football tournament is now underway, and the broadcasting rights are coming under scrutiny. According to Follow the Media, " ... TV broadcast rights fees were too stiff for some African broadcasters,...
Serwalo Tumelo, Botswana’s Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, has called on the United Nations Development Program to take a more forceful role on free trade in Africa. According to...
According to Engineering News the SA property market is preparing to enter the global 'green-building' boom, and the recently established Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) has set to work on developing a ratings...
In an interview with Der Spiegel, reported by Petroleum World yesterday, OPEC Secretary-General Abdalla Salem el-Badri fielded questions on a wide range of energy-related issues. At one point the dialogue turned to nuclear energy and...
The AFRO-IP team has become aware that members of SAIIPL are invited to a Special Meeting held jointly by the AIPPI (South African Group) and the SAIIPL on Friday 1 February 2008. The Special...
Mike Du Toit, current president of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law, has kindly drawn AFRO-IP’s attention to a 34 page comprehensive guide to the S11D tax incentive, published by Sibanda and Zantwijk...
In the current issue of Trademark World (December 2007/January 2008), Wim Alberts (Bowman Gilfillan John & Kernick) writes on "Staving off expungement: the 'engineered' use of a trademark in South African, UK and EC Law"....
The Belgium-based Rezidor Hotel Group is to extend its franchise to three further properties under its mid-market Park Inn brand. Two will be in Europe, but the third will be in Dakar, Senegal, where the...
Renault-Nissan has signed an agreement with the Moroccan government to invest euro 600 million in building a manufacturing complex near Tangiers, on which work will commence next month. The site will initially produce 200,000 vehicles...
Africa Science News reports that scientists at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) have now concluded a five-year project to improve plant breeding techniques and develop new cultivars in order to increase yields of...
Terra 2008, the 10th international conference on earth-building, is to be held from 1 to 5 February 2008 in Bamako, Mali (click here for conference details). The thrust of the event is that, while nearly...
The ISC-Intelligence in Science and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) are organising a Science with Africa Conference in Addis Abba from 3-7 March. According to the conference website Science with Africa will focus...
The Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Drug Information Association and European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations are co-hosting the first African Regulatory Conference: A Forum for Regulatory Authorities and the Pharmaceutical Industry on...
The Botswana Musicians Union (BOMU) is expected to elect a new executive committee next month, reports AllAfrica. Although the BOMU executive has come under heavy criticism, secretary general Nkgopoleng Tlhomelang is upbeat: "We are proud...
By sharing this blog with friends and colleagues and following Jeremy's post on the IPKAT here, we have received a number of comments that we wanted to share with you:It looks very promising. I mentioned...
Biotechnology firms in South Africa have urged MPs to reconsider clauses in the draft Technology Innovation Agency Bill that give the Agency rights to board representation and equity stakes in the firms it invests in,...
Abednego Hlatshwayo (Microsoft anti-piracy manager for East and Southern Africa) is quoted in Business Daily as saying that devices such as CD and DVD-writers, as well as internet tools, are making it easy for pirates...
According to iafrica.com , South African headquartered world diamond giant De Beers is to pay $295m in a class action settlement after it was accused of unlawfully monopolising the supply of diamonds, conspiring to fix...
According to The Tide Online, staff of the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA) have been reminded of the need for effective promotion and actualisation of Nigeria's foreign policy. At a workshop organised by...
Gazprom, the massive Russian energy company, is reportedly in talks with Nigerian energy officials with a view to developing the country's vast gas reserves under a possible US$2.5 billion deal, prompting fears in Europe and...
The World Customs Organisation now regards African countries as the main concern in Europe's fight against unsafe and counterfeit goods, which are said to be worth over $200 billion in trade every year, according to...
A report in Health 24 says that, according to the experts, the Department of Health in South Africa is paying much more than it needs to for key HIV drug Efavirenz. On one estimate the...
An article in AllAfrica.com on the growth of a sophisticated wine-drinking culture in Uganda lists the names of various wine products that are now available. One interviewee comments: "Thanks to friendly trade policies in place,...
According to The Times (South Africa), Swiss power-technology company ABB has been given a contract worth $90-million (R630-million) to upgrade control systems and instrumentation at the 20-year-old Matla power station in Mpumalanga. ABB is to...
"This is commendable but more is needed to be done. Examples are the dubious contracts each individual film makers, marketers, actors, actress and producers are undertaking individually with dubious individuals both internationally and within Nigeria for their personal marketing and distribution rights, and these contracts are not abiding or enforceable in the international copyright laws or anywhere else in the world. Such hasty contract with no backbone and as such these people are given blank checks to produce and distribute Nigeria arts and Films internationally with no money coming to them or into Nigeria, and it is a win win situation for the piraters and copyright violators . Nigeria and the film industry are shortchanged and violated big time in these hasty deals".
The Angolan IP Office in the country's capital Luanda is undergoing a process of reorganisation. Accordingly the Office will, for the time being, be open to the public only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays....
CNN reports that Swiss-based drug company Roche Holding AG is entering into four new cost-free technology transfers with local manufacturers in Africa, helping them make generic HIV medicine. The drugs, based upon Saquinavir (Roche's second-line...
Sportswear brand Puma has signed a deal with the Eurosport sport network to sponsor its live football coverage of the forthcoming African Cup of Nations. The sportswear brand is using the deal to launch its...
According to an article by Sanchia Temkin, on AllAfrica.com, taxpayers in South Africa may now claim deductions for registration costs relating to trade marks in the light of a recent amendment to the Income Tax...
Last week the United States and Libya signed a bilateral Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement. The US-Libya Agreement is the first official bilateral agreement signed between the two countries since re-establishment of relations in 2004....
News agency Reuters has reported that Ethiopia has obtained trade mark rights for its specialty Harar and Sidamo coffee names. During 2007 the African coffee-producing country had a lengthy dispute with Starbucks Corp over the...
According to an article in InformationWeek, Lagos Analysis Corp. is threatening patent infringement proceedings against the One Laptop Per Child programme, maintaining that the OLPC programme uses an XO laptop that falls within the scope...
While the DTI didn't give FIFA a red card, it wasn't Father Christmas either when dealing with their request in terms of section 15 of the South African Merchandise Marks Act 1941. Section 15 provides...
IOL reports , via The Star, 3 January 2008, that police have intercepted what is believed to be the largest shipment of fake DVDs in South Africa's history, estimated to be worth more than R200-million...