Effective today, 14 October 2022, the Harare Protocol and
the Banjul Protocol are now effective in The Republic of Cape Verde, making it
the 20th contracting State of the Harare Protocol and the 13th contracting
State of the Banjul Protocol.
Pursuant to the Harare and Banjul Protocols, starting today,
users of the ARIPO system can designate Cape Verde in their applications.
Furthermore, Cape Verde nationals and residents are entitled, starting today,
to file patent, industrial designs, utility models and mark applications
directly with the ARIPO Office if they so wish.
The Republic of Cape Verde on 14 July 2022 deposited its
instruments of Accession to ARIPO and its Protocols at a ceremony held at the
Embassy of Cape Verde in Geneva, Switzerland in the margins of the 63rd WIPO
General Assemblies.
The other ARIPO Member States that are Contracting Parties
to the Harare Protocol are: Botswana, Kingdom of Eswatini, The Gambia, Ghana,
Kenya, Kingdom of Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Sao
Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia,
and Zimbabwe. As for the Banjul Protocol, the other Contracting States are:
Botswana, Kingdom of Eswatini, The Gambia, Kingdom of Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi,
Mozambique, Namibia, Sao Tome and Principe, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
The Republic of Cape Verde also deposited its instrument of
accession to two other Protocols in the framework of ARIPO: the Swakopmund
Protocol on the Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Expression of Folklore
and the Arusha Protocol for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants