On June 23, 2016, WIPO welcomed the accession of the 150th Member State to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) when the Minister Delegate to the Ministry of Economy and Finance in charge of Trade, SMEs, Handicrafts and Tourism, Djibouti, Hassan Houmed Ibrahim deposited his States’s instrument of accession to the PCT. The Treaty will enter into force for Djibouti on September 23, 2016.
Read more about it here.
This development is goods news for Djibouti as its patent filing system is still in early development (see Afro-IP posts here and here). One of the advantages of the PCT is that it allows designated member states to use prior art and patentability results from the international phase resulting in a less work and more efficiency in deciding whether to grant the patent at national level.
That said, it's all well and good acceding to the PCT and legislating for patent protection but implementing it and educating people how to use patents is just as important. We look forward to news of how this is effectively achieved in an economy largely dependent on its service sector and strategic location as a Red Sea transit point.
