ARIPO has announced the appointment of a new Director General (DG).

Mr Bemanya Twebaze, currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Uganda Registration Services Bureau, will take office on 1 January 2021, and he will serve a four-year term until 31 December 2024. Mr Twebaze will replace Dr Fernando dos Santos, whose eight-year term ends on 31 December 2020.

This announcement was made during the 44th session of ARIPO’s Administrative Council held in Zimbabwe from 16-20 November. The growing importance of ARIPO and African IP is reflected by the fact that, amongst the ‘virtual attendees’, were representatives from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI), the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore and the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

ARIPO is a regional IP registration system that applies in much of Africa. There are currently 20 Member States: Botswana, Eswatini, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

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