Your cart is currently empty!
ARIPO is the acronym for the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation. Its main purpose is to protect the ownership of ideas – like inventions, designs and trademarks – throughout the 19 member states spread across Africa. It was initially established in 1976 in Nairobi, Kenya through the joint efforts of WIPO (the World Intellectual Property Organisation) and UNECO (the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa). ARIPO seeks to promote economic development within its member states by protecting intellectual properties which include:- Industrial Property: Patents, inventions, industrial designs and trademarks, etc.
This means that if you create a new machine or a new industrial design you can apply for a patent so that your ideas can not be copied or sold without permission thus protecting your concept from being stolen or misappropriated. It also protects trademarks; so for instance, noone else can use the name or the logo of your company or brand and claim it as their own. Copyright and Related Rights: Literary works, paintings, music, performances, etc. Copyrights for music are particularly relevant these days when musicians are constantly claiming that someone else has stolen their lyrics or melodies, or that their music is being reproduced without royalty payments.
The same applies to novels, non-fiction works – in particular medical or scientific research – as well as all sections of the Arts like paintings, sculptures, film or even dance performances. Emerging Issues of Intellectual Property: New plant varieties, traditional knowledge of plant uses and of genetic resources, etc. Protecting traditional knowledge is becoming more and more relevant and urgent in the developing world and in Africa in particular. There is a great deal of current research into the medicinal uses of traditional and indigenous plants and herbs for things like treatments for cancer and other chronic illnesses.
New plant hybrids are constantly being developed to improve drought resistance, pest resistance and higher yields. ARIPO was initially called ESARIPO – the English Speaking African Industrial Protection Organisation – and this was later amended in 1985 to include other African states that were predominantly French, German or Portuguese speaking. In 2003 the organisation underwent a second name change from the African Regional Industrial Property Organisation to the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation, in order to include a wider mandate encompassing copyrights and other related rights.
The organisation was initially set up at Sheria House in Nairobi, Kenya. When it was first established, like many new organisations, it experienced a number of financial and logistical challenges, until the newly created Republic of Zimbabwe offered to host the Secretariat awarding it diplomatic status and other benefits, including free office accommodation for the first five years. The organisation was re-located to Harare, initially at Electra House, on Samora Machel Avenue in the CBD, where it shared the premises with the Zimbabwe Intellectual Property Office (Comptroller of Patents, Trademarks and Industrial Design). As the organisation developed and grew it began to need extra office space to cater for more staff. The Zimbabwean government then allocated the organisation more generous accommodation in Bryanston House in George Silundika Avenue.
Following the signing of the Harare Protocol and the Banjul Protocol the mandate of the organisation increased dramatically necessitating a third move to the government owned property, the Old Stable House in Fourth Street. From here the organisation finally managed to acquire its own premises at 11 Natal Road in Belgravia, near other diplomatic missions and international NGOs. Following extensive renovations and additions to the existing building the organisation finally moved to their current home in 2001. 11 Natal Road was initially an old bungalow style residential house with a smaller detached building at the back. Following on the first renovations in 2001, in 2003 work started on the construction of a new double storey block of offices and other functional areas.
This culminated in 2006 in the Kamil Idris Building, named after the former Director General of WIPO. This building is largely made up of office space but also incorporates the ARIPO Academy, consisting of the library, a conference room and a training room. In 2015 construction began on further extensions to the existing headquarters. The adjacent property, 13 Natal Road, became available and was purchased to allow for the necessary expansion.
The old house was demolished to make way for a mirror image of the existing structure and the addition of a new imposing reception area linking the two symmetrical parts. The new structure incorporates more office and conference facilities, the archives, a mail and registry room, an in-house printing and publishing centre, a state of the art auditorium, a staff canteen and a courtyard garden. The garden will in time become a kind of walk through gallery/exhibition space displaying examples of the registered patents and inventions.
Following the signing of the Harare Protocol and the Banjul Protocol the mandate of the organisation
increased dramatically necessitating a third move to the government owned property, the Old Stable House in Fourth Street. From here the organisation finally managed to acquire its own premises at 11 Natal Road in Belgravia, near other diplomatic missions and international NGOs. Following extensive renovations and additions to the existing building the organisation
finally moved to their current home in 2001.
11 Natal Road was initially an old bungalow style residential house with a smaller detached building at the back. Following on the first renovations in 2001, in 2003 work started on the construction of a new double storey block of offices and other functional areas. This culminated in 2006 in the Kamil Idris Building, named after the former Director General of WIPO. This building is largely made up of office space but also incorporates the ARIPO Academy, consisting of the library, a conference room and a training room.
In 2015 construction began on further extensions to the existing headquarters. The adjacent property, 13 Natal Road, became available and was purchased to allow for the necessary expansion. The old house was demolished to make way for a mirror image of the existing structure and the addition of a new imposing reception area linking the two symmetrical parts. The new structure incorporates more office and conference facilities, the archives, a mail and registry room, an in-house printing and publishing centre, a state of the art auditorium, a staff canteen and a courtyard garden.
The garden will in time become a kind of walk through gallery/exhibition space displaying examples of the registered patents and inventions.
A major highlight of the new building is the large auditorium, designed in conjunction with Galleria Celso who recommended seating options and finishes. Special attention was paid to the acoustics and sound engineering experts were contracted to provide the necessary equipment like microphones and headphones which are connected to the interpreters’ booths. The whole auditorium functions as a kind of broadcast centre so that live presentations and discussions can be seen and heard throughout the building on large flat screen monitors.
is an inter-governmental organization (IGO). ARIPO was created at Lusaka, Zambia, on 9 December 1976 under the Lusaka Agreement. Membership of the Organization is open to all African nation States members of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) or the African Union (AU).
ARIPO Member States. Botswana. Mozambique. The Gambia. Ghana. Kenya. Lesotho. Liberia. Malawi. Namibia. Rwanda. Sao Tome and Principe. Sierra Leone. Somalia. Sudan. Swaziland. Tanzania. Uganda. Zambia. Zimbabwe
ARIPO Office 11 Natal Rd, Belgravia P.O. Box 4228, Harare, Zimbabwe Land: (+263) (4) 794 054, 794 065, 794 066, 794 068 Chat: (+263) (0) 731 559 987, 731 020 609 Fax: (+263) (4) 794 072/3, Email: mail@aripo.org Website; www.aripo.org Twitter; @ariposocial Facebook: African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation
