Tuesday 23 September 2014

Afro Leo

OAPI and the European Patent Office (EPO) strengthen cooperation.

This is the second of three reports by Aminou Ndala TITA based in Cameroon on developments at OAPI:

"A regional workshop was held in Yaoundé on the 8th and 9th of September 2014 at the headquarters of OAPI on the theme "OAPI - European Patent Office (EPO) partnership to support the activities of OAPI member States in the development of innovation by promoting the patent system”. It aimed at improving the win-win cooperation that has existed since 1985; improving the procedure for granting patents, the capacity building of staff of OAPI and the national liaison structures, etc. In attendance were all the member states of OAPI and a team from the EPO.

This meeting was organized to strengthen bilateral relationship that existed between both institutions. It should be recalled that OAPI signed an MOU with EPO as far as back as 1962 when the organization still known as the Intellectual Property Office for Africa and Malagasy. As from 1977, OAPI was already submitting information for publication on espace.net.


Overall, the key areas of cooperation under the new partnership for the period 2013-2017 will revolve around training, assistance on patent application, assistance in raising awareness and technical infrastructure. The Yaoundé workshop has consolidated the position of EPO patents in the OAPI jurisdiction, increase the use of regional patent system as a factor in economic development and promote the development of regional innovation and foreign industrial investment in Africa."

You can follow Aminou on the twitter handle @aminoudnalatita

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1 October 2014 at 13:17 delete

Back in 1962 also EPO did not yet exist... Also there it was probably its predecessor; in this case IIB (Institut International des Brevets; International Patent Institute) which also had some African parties: Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Monaco, Morocco (!), Netherlands, Switzerland, Tunisia (!), Turkey, United Kingdom

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