It's now week 47 and Kingsley Egbuonu's marathon trek round Africa's many and varied nations, in search of official intellectual property websites, has now taken him across the border from South Sudan to the nation which formerly governed that territory, Sudan itself. Kingsley reports thus:
Overview
Sudan is a Contracting Party to a number of treaties on intellectual property including the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. Sudan is also an ARIPO Member State.
Copyright Office
• The Federal Council for Literary and Artistic Works (Ministry of Culture and Youth and Sports) is the competent office responsible for copyright and related rights in Sudan.
• This office currently has no website.
Industrial Property Office
• The Office of the Registrar General of Sudan (Ministry of Justice) is the competent office responsible for the administration of intellectual property rights in Sudan.
• The website for this office is www.ipsudan.gov.sd and it is in Arabic.
Social Media Presence
None found.
Intellectual Property update in Sudan
Afro-IP has reported on various developments of practical significance in recent times: see here, here, here and here
ConclusionKingsley tweets as @IPinAfrica
Similarly to South Sudan, Sudan has its own problems -- but there is a website for its intellectual property office. Albeit not up-to-date, the website has a lot of relevant information worthy of praise; they include: legislations, forms, fees and even a few case laws.
Afro-IP also got to learn of the excellent work done by the Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC) the www.arcsudan.sd towards ensuring that the future and sustainability of the agricultural sector in Sudan – which employs a significant number of its population despite its oil revenues.
By creating and encouraging a favourable environment for intellectual property rights, through its IP office, the Sudanese government will also be assisting with the work of the ARC.
