Friday 30 October 2015

Jeremy

Tanzania commits to UPOV Convention

By UPOV Notification No. 119 International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants: Accession by the United Republic of Tanzania to the 1991 Act, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has announced that the United Republic of Tanzania deposited last week its instrument of accession to the 1991 version of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (the UPOV Convention).

Right: the castor bean is among Tanzania's valuable plant varieties

If you are involved in plants, note that the UPOV Convention will enter into force for Tanzania on 22 November 2015.
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Friday 16 October 2015

Jeremy

Gambia signs up for the Madrid Protocol

According to the recently-issued Madrid (Marks) Notification No. 207: Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks: Accession by the Republic of the Gambia, Afro Leo learns that the Government of the Republic of the Gambia deposited last month its instrument of accession to the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks. The Madrid Protocol (1989) will enter into force, with respect to the Gambia this coming winter, on 18 December 2015.

Here's the WIPO Madrid Protocol page, and here's the list of countries where the Madrid Protocol is operative (or nearly so) -- all 96 of them at the time of posting of this item.
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Monday 12 October 2015

IPcommentator

African Ministers to convene for a conference on IP

'IP for an Emerging Africa' is the theme of a three-day conference scheduled for November 3 – 5, 2015 in Dakar, Senegal. The event is jointly organised by the Japan Patent Office and WIPO, in cooperation with the African Union and the Government of the Republic of Senegal. [Says Afro Leo: “Those following the progress of African countries in the Global Innovation Index will notice that the host has done well, again, alongside Mauritius and South Africa.”]

The venue: King Fahd Palace Hotel 
According to the planners, this event will “highlight the relevance of IP as an engine for promoting creativity, innovation, scientific and technological transformation of African economies”. 

It is packed with sessions discussing, among other things, how to create a balanced IP regime which enables innovation; the role of the patent system; modernising IPOffices; R&D and IP; and the creative industries.  

Special guests and panellists include:
  • Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the Africa Union Commission;
  • Kunihiko Shimano, Director-General, Trial and Appeal Department of the Japan Patent Office;
  • H.E. Mr. Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal;
  • H. E. Mrs. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, President of the Republic of Mauritius;
  • Francis Gurry, Director General of WIPO;
  • Martial De Paul Ikounga, Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology at the African Union; and
  • Catherine A. Odora-Hoppers, Professor at the University of South Africa.

[Afro Leo thinks this is the sort of gathering where one may get the latest on the Pan-Africa Intellectual Property Office (PAIPO)]

This Leo also recognises Nicola Searle (the Katonomist), who will be moderating a panel discussion on capturing value through IP in the fashion design industry. He must say that Nicola gave him the idea behind an Africa creative industries event in London two years ago.

There might still be places left, if you would like to attend. Afro Leo would welcome feedback or IP-related gossip from anyone attending.
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Friday 9 October 2015

Afro Leo

FridayLite: Paarl's blue eye boy wins all expenses trip to Geneva!

#SandtonDiscussion is delighted to announce that Reinhardt Biermann has won the Unisa Domain Name essay competition after being motivated to enter by Prof Eddie Hurter during a discussion in July.

He has won an all expenses trip to WIPO to attend an advanced course on domain names next month! The twittersphere is already ablaze with congratulations.

These discussions, hosted by Adams & Adams, feature on twitter ever Monday (you can follow it and partake at your leisure, whenever, using the hashtag).

This coming Monday it’s John Ndlovu's turn to present – here is his taster:


"So this week I have decided to take us down under … can’t you hear can’t you hear that thunder! The case deals with parody trade marks but also enforcing rights where the public has given your trade mark a different or shortened mark and if you are able to enforce based on the reputation acquired in this other mark. The case is Target Australia Pty Ltd v Catchoftheday.com.au Pty Ltd [2015] ATMO 54 (24 June 2015) . You can also read a brief article from IPKat’s Jani Ihalainen here."

Meanwhile, if you are plotting investment activity on the continent, check out this article by Mail & Guardian entitled "They just keep coming: These 15 big investments are on the cards around Africa":

"From manufacturing, financial services, renewable energy, petrochemicals and mobile data, global and African investors are seeing dollar signs"

Hope you are in on the action. Have a great weekend!


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Caroline B Ncube

Conference Update: ATRIP (Cape Town) and Social Responsibilities of IP right-holders (Pretoria)

The International Association for  the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP) held its 34th congress from 27 - 30 September 2015 in Cape Town. The theme for the conference was 'Intellectual property in action in society: new perspectives from the North, the South and the cloud'. The congress was well attended and lively discussions were held after all the presentations (see the programme). For an overview of these see twitter
Some of the papers will be published in a book next year, as is the norm. So far the following books have been published after previous congresses.

After a day's break, some ATRIP attendees, reconvened in Pretoria for UP's Conference on Social Responsibility of IP Rights Holders. The conference had a very thought-provoking presentations that considered IP law from corporate governance and human rights perspectives. For a sneak peak see 
Hopefully some of these papers will be published soon, perhaps in a special edition of De Jure

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