On 31 January 2025, ARIPO posted a notification that new amendments to the Harare Protocol on Patents and Industrial Designs and the Regulations will come into effect on 1 March 2025. ARIPO also announced the introduction of significant increases to the Official fees which will come into force on 1 March 2025. There are no changes to Utility Model Official fees. The amendments and new Official fees will apply to all existing and new applications.

The Harare Protocol empowers ARIPO to grant patents and to register utility models and industrial designs on behalf of the member countries. Some of the notable amendments include:

Patents

  • Adding further designated countries to an ARIPO application before publication. This does not apply to PCT Regional phase applications at ARIPO.
  • The deadline for responding to a Search and Substantive Examination report Form 18 has changed from 6 months to 4 months.
  • Decision to Grant a Patent by ARIPO – if a designated State makes a written communication to ARIPO that the ARIPO patent shall have no effect in its territory, and the Applicant submits a response to the communication; if the designated State does not reply to the Applicant within 2 months, the application will be deemed refused by the designated State.
  • The deadline for paying grant and publication fees has changed to 4 months and the time limit for a designated country to make a written communication to ARIPO that the ARIPO patent shall have no effect in its territory has changed to 4 months.
  • After ARIPO issues a notice of intention to grant a patent, if the Applicant wishes to make voluntary (reasoned) amendments to the description, claims or drawings not recommended by ARIPO or the amendments are based on un-examined claims, the application will be re-examined and payment of additional re-examination fees are required.
  • If the Applicant wishes to make any limiting post-grant amendments, the Applicant must pay re-examination fees, and if the post-grant amendments are allowed, the Applicant must also pay re-publication fees.
  • Where a designated State makes a written communication to ARIPO that the ARIPO patent shall have no effect in its territory, the Applicant may apply to convert the refused patent to a national patent application in the designated State. ARIPO will transmit the request for conversion to the Industrial Property Office of the designated State specified.
  • Where a designated State objects to the inclusion of any part of an ARIPO patent specification proposed for grant as unacceptable under the National Law, the Applicant may respond by excluding such parts from protection in the designated State, and the ARIPO patent may, for such designated State, include claims and, where appropriate, a description and drawings which are different from those for the other Designated States.

Designs

  • A Statement of Novelty is now required for ARIPO design applications. This must be filed within 2 months from the application filing date.
  • Where ARIPO has examined an ARIPO design application and it complies with the formal requirements, ARIPO will transmit the design application to each designated State for optional substantive examination by each designated State in accordance with the national law. Some ARIPO member countries, such as Kenya, substantively examine ARIPO design applications. Each designated State has 4 months from receipt of the transmittal from ARIPO substantively to examine the ARIPO design application.

Increases to the Official fees

There are significant increases to the Official fees for filing applications, substantive examination, grant and publication, voluntary amendments, post-grant amendments, applications for restoration, late payment of renewal fees, etc. While there are changes to the Official fees for design renewals, there are no increases in Official fees for patent renewals. However, for both patents and designs, surcharges for late payment of renewals are no longer a fixed fee but are now based on a percentage of the renewal fee, i.e. 40% for patents and 30% for designs.

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