Filing at ARIPO
ARIPO is the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation. The ARIPO member states are predominantly English speaking Southern African countries. The office for ARIPO is situated in Harare, Zimbabwe, which has been its host for over 20 years.
ARIPO is a member of the International Convention and of the PCT.
ARIPO Member States for Patents:
As of 2017 the following 18 states were contracting parties to the Harare Protocol on Patents and Industrial Designs, and could therefore be individually designated for patent applications:
Botswana | The Gambia | Ghana | Kenya |
Lesotho | Liberia | Malawi | Mozambique |
Namibia | Rwanda | São Tomé & Príncipe | Sierra Leone |
Sudan | Swaziland | United Republic of Tanzania | Uganda |
Zambia | Zimbabwe |
Amendments to the Harare Protocol came into effect on 1 January 2017 and include some important changes.
ARIPO Patent Costs & Requirements:
2017
The cost of an ARIPO patent application varies depending upon how many member states are designated by the applicant.
The requirements for filing a non-PCT regional phase application in ARIPO are as follows:
(a) Power of Attorney (simply signed) – can be late-filed within 2 months;
(b) Description, claims, drawings, and abstract in English – required on the day of filing;
(c) Assignment of Invention – can be late filed, no set deadline; and
(d) Priority document with verified English translation – can be late-filed, within 3 and 6 months, respectively.
The requirements for filing a PCT regional phase application in ARIPO are as follows:
(i) Power of Attorney (simply signed) – can be late-filed within 2 months;
(ii) Description, claims, drawings, and abstract in English[1] – required on the day of filing;
(iii) Copy of PCT International Phase Publication – required on day of filing;
(iv) Copy of International Search Report – can be late-filed, no set deadline; and
(v) Copy of International Preliminary Examination Report – can be late filed, no set deadline.
The deadline for PCT regional phase entry is 31 months from the earliest priority date.
We estimate that the cost of filing a patent application in ARIPO will be between about US$ 2250.00 and US$ 2450.00 (excluding translation fees, if necessary). To this must be added the fees for claiming each priority date at about US$ 60.00 per priority claim, and designation fees at about US$ 200.00 per member state designated.
Furthermore, please note that for PCT regional phase applications the first renewal fee may be due upon filing (due retrospectively on the first anniversary of the international filing date, where applicable) at a further cost of about US$ 360.00 for the first member state designated plus about US$ 60.00 for each successive member state designated.
If the PCT application claims no priority, the second renewal fee may also be due upon filing (due retrospectively on the second anniversary of the international filing date, where applicable) at a further cost of about US$ 385.00 for the first member state designated plus about US$ 85.00 for each successive member state designated.
Examination must be requested within 3 years of the effective filing date, at a cost of approximately US$ 1600.00. Once the examination fee has been paid, the application will undergo substantive examination. If official actions are issued in this respect, the costs of responding to same are dependent on the professional time spent.
Once accepted, grant and publication fees of about US$ 1800.00 are payable together with surcharges for claims in excess of 10 (at about US$ 70.00 per claim) and pages of the specification in excess of 30 (pages 31 to 100 at about US$ 30.00 per page and page 101 onwards at about US$ 40.00 per page)..
Please note further that no fees are payable in the individual designated countries upon grant, because granted ARIPO patents automatically extend to all designated countries i.e. there is no procedure after grant similar to the validation procedure for a European patent.
[1] We require the Word version so that we can format it to comply with ARIPO’s stringent requirements before filing the application. We can download the other PCT documents, such as the drawings, abstract, etc. directly from the WIPO website.
E-Mail: mail@moorepatent.co.za