\n24 March <\/b>\n<\/p>\n
\nOn 24 March, the President met Denis Bohoussou, the Director General of
\nthe Organisation Africaine de la Propri\u00e9t\u00e9 Intellectuelle (OAPI), to exchange
\non strategic developments at both offices since the last meeting in November
\n2020. The heads discussed a validation agreement between the EPO and OAPI’s
\nmember states, clarifying the next legal and procedural steps.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe validation
\nagreement breaks new ground for the Office and is expected to provide EPO applicants with direct access to
\nhigh-quality patent protection in 17 states in Africa, a market of some 280
\nmillion inhabitants. During the meeting, the EPO underlined its willingness to
\nprovide comprehensive legal, administrative and technical assistance to boost
\nsupport to OAPI and its member states in order to facilitate the entry into
\nforce of the validation agreement.\n<\/p>\n
\nDuring the
\nvirtual meeting, the OAPI delegation provided an update on their plan to
\nintroduce search and substantive patent examination in line with the recently
\nrevised Bangui Agreement (the treaty establishing the organisation). The EPO
\nunderlined its support for these plans and will continue to contribute by
\noffering training to OAPI examiners and helping draft the Patent Examination
\nGuidelines.\n<\/p>\n
\nAdditionally,
\nthe delegations exchanged on the Office’s upcoming outreach projects and
\nactivities, including the Patent Engineer Master programme held at the
\n„Institut National Polytechnique de Yamoussoukro“. Following on from
\nthe training event held in November 2021, the EPO and OAPI will host additional
\nevents and training to support capacity building in OAPI member-states. .\n<\/p>\n
\nFurther
\ninformation:<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
24 March On 24 March, the President met Denis Bohoussou, the Director General of the Organisation Africaine de la Propri\u00e9t\u00e9 Intellectuelle (OAPI), to exchange on strategic developments at both offices since the last meeting in November …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"nachrichtenkategorien":[130],"class_list":["post-30807","nachricht","type-nachricht","status-publish","hentry","nachrichtenkategorie-epa"],"yoast_head":"\n