This week Afro-IP's A to Z trek through the official websites of African nations reaches the sandy expanses of Mauritania, where Kingsley Egbuonu has little to cheer us up with. Kingsley reports:
Kingsley tweets as @IPinAfrica
Overview
Mauritania is a Contracting Party to a number of treaties on intellectual property (IP) including the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. It is also an OAPI member.
Copyright Office
• The Cultural Cooperation and Intellectual Property Department is the competent office responsible for copyright and related rights in Mauritania.
• The office has no website.Afro-IP hopes that Mauritania can see IP as a tool to economic and social development.
Industrial Property Office
• The Directorate of Industry (Ministry of Industry and Mines) is the competent office responsible for the administration of intellectual property rights in Mauritania.
• This office has no website.
Social Media Presence
None.
Intellectual Property update in Mauritania
No recent update.
Conclusion
A Mauritanian citizen turned his business idea into a success story, thanks to intellectual property. Yet Mauritania -- like some members of the OAPI-- does not have a web presence for its IP office(s) to enlighten its citizens on the use of IP.
Kingsley tweets as @IPinAfrica
1 comments:
Write commentsIn all fairness, Mauritania, as a member of OAPI runs the majority of its IP office work through OAPI. Most OAPI states leave a significant amount of the processing to OAPI. However, I agree it also seems to mean they abdicate the policy part, especially the function of tech transfer.
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