Kingsley Egbuonu's 51st stop-off on his marathon A-to-Z trip round Africa's official intellectual property office websites takes him to the Mediterranian-facing Tunisia, home of the Arab Spring. This is what Kingsley reports:
"Overview
Tunisia 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.
Copyright Office
• The Tunisian Organism for the Protection of Authors' Rights (TOPAR) is the competent office responsible for copyright and related rights in Tunisia.
• The website for this office is www.culture.tn and it is in Arabic.
Industrial Property Office
• The National Institute for Standardization and Industrial Property (INNORPI) is the competent office responsible for the administration of intellectual property rights in Tunisia.
• The website for this office is www.innorpi.tn and it can be accessed in three languages: Arabic, French and English.
Social Media Presence
None found.
Intellectual Property update in Tunisia
In April 2012, Tunisia and India agreed to set up a US $8 million programme to fund collaboration between researchers in both countries working in fields related to biotechnology and medical sciences.
On 12 May 2011, the European Patent Office (EPO) and the INNORPI signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate on patent protection. Afro-IP has also reported on various developments of practical significance in recent times including here and here.
Conclusion
INNORPI’s website is functional and does contain useful information on how to protect your intellectual property in Tunisia. Although the website has a searchable database –which we like a lot – Afro-IP is not certain if it really works as it should. Therefore, if any of our readers use this website, please share your thoughts and experiences. On the other hand, TOPAR’s website is currently out of service.
Afro-IP wishes Tunisia a smooth democratic transition and hope that it can maintain its efforts in sensitising and protecting intellectual property rights.
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Kingsley tweets as
@IPinAfrica
