Friday 23 August 2013

Caroline B Ncube

New A-Z series: IP policies in Africa - no. 1 Algeria

Following the recent reports on the imminent release of South Africa's IP policy for public comment (here and here), this Leo decided to follow Kingsley's lead and start a new A-Z series on IP policies on the continent (see here and here for a recap of Kingsley's A-Z series on the online presence of IP offices). 

The purpose of this new A-Z series is to:
1. determine if a country has an IP policy in place;
2. if there is a policy in place, to review the policy; and
3. if there is no policy, to establish if there is any publicly available information on the preparation of such a policy.


The series begins this week with a visit to Algeria:
Algeria does not have an IP policy. The WIPO Lex page on Algeria does not list an IP policy nor is one available on the National Office of Copyrights and Related Rights’ (ONDA) website and the Algerian National Institute of Industrial Property (INAPI) website

The country is in the process of formulating an IP policy and is receiving technical assistance from WIPO under Development Agenda Project DA_10_05: Development of National IP Strategies. See here for WIPO's approach to the formulation of IP policies. The IP for Development Program's technical assistance database lists meetings held in 2011 and  2012 on the formulation of an IP policy for Algeria. Further details of  how the policy formulation process has unfolded in Algeria are not publicly available nor has draft policy been made available online. 


This tour raises the important question of whether an IP policy is a 'must' or 'nice to have'. Should African countries have IP policies? If they should, what would a good IP policy look like or what would it seek to achieve? What do Afro-IP readers think about these issues? Please share your thoughts by commenting on this post. 

Caroline B Ncube

Caroline B Ncube

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3 comments

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Anonymous
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23 August 2013 at 13:01 delete

Guess with the TRIPS extension they may decide not to have one

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Dalindyebo Shabalala
AUTHOR
28 August 2013 at 20:03 delete

Hi guys! I was wondering whether some of this may also be captured under 'innovation policies'. This is something that many experts and policy makers have emphasized as a better approach for developing countries and it may have sunk in to some extent. So you should look at innovation policies, especially,ones directed at increasing tech transfer both from academia to private sector and cross border.

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29 August 2013 at 12:41 delete

Hi Dalindyebo, excellent tip! I'll look for Innovation policies as well to see if they engage with IP.

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