As noted by AfroLeo here, there is mounting pressure on the South African government to move the national IP policy process along. Specifically, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and SECTION27 are calling for the finalisation of the policy by the May 7 national elections. The SABC reported here that following a march by activists led by the three groups in Pretoria, the Minister of Trade and Industry undertook to meet with civil society to provide an update on his ministry's progress towards finalising the IP policy. So, invigorated by the news of possible IP policy developments in South Africa, this Leo turned her mind to the IP policies in Africa series' weekly post.
This week the series visits Equitorial Guinea ... and comes up empty-handed, again. Two years ago Kingsley reported here that OAPI, of which Equitorial Giunea is a member, had announced that it was committed to working on harmonising the IP laws and policies of its member states in the l'appel du cinquantenair pour la mise en oeuvre de la propriété intellectualle dans le états member de'lOAPI [here in French and here in English via google transalte]. If any consequent action results in the preparation of an OAPI IP policy document, then at least OAPI member states (like COMESA member states*) will have a collective policy vision from which national policies can be drawn. This Leo was unable to find any information about progress on the OAPI IP laws and policy harmonisation initiative. Do any readers know what its current status is?
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* See here for COMESA's IP policy
For Equitorial Guinea's IP laws see WIPOLex here
For Kingsley's posts on the web presence of EG's national IP offices see here and here
This week the series visits Equitorial Guinea ... and comes up empty-handed, again. Two years ago Kingsley reported here that OAPI, of which Equitorial Giunea is a member, had announced that it was committed to working on harmonising the IP laws and policies of its member states in the l'appel du cinquantenair pour la mise en oeuvre de la propriété intellectualle dans le états member de'lOAPI [here in French and here in English via google transalte]. If any consequent action results in the preparation of an OAPI IP policy document, then at least OAPI member states (like COMESA member states*) will have a collective policy vision from which national policies can be drawn. This Leo was unable to find any information about progress on the OAPI IP laws and policy harmonisation initiative. Do any readers know what its current status is?-----------------------------------------------
* See here for COMESA's IP policy
For Equitorial Guinea's IP laws see WIPOLex here
For Kingsley's posts on the web presence of EG's national IP offices see here and here
