The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), formerly African Regional Industrial Property Organization, is an intergovernmental international organization established to enable cooperation between African states in patent and other industrial property matters. It has the capacity to hear applications for patents and registered trademarks in its member states who are parties to the Harare (patents) and Banjul (marks) protocols. It has the WIPO ST.3 code AP. Africa is the worlds second-largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. ... In law, particularly in common law jurisdictions, intellectual property or IP refers to a legal entitlement which sometimes attaches to the expressed form of an idea or of other intangible subject matter. ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a government to a person for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of an invention. ... A trademark (Commonwealth English: trade mark)[1] is a distinctive sign of some kind which is used by a business to identify itself and its products or services to consumers, and to set the business and its products or services apart from those of other businesses. ... The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is one of the specialized agencies of the United Nations, and has as its core objectives the promotion of creative intellectual activity and the facilitation of the transfer of technology related to intellectual property to the developing countries in order to accelerate economic, social...

Its 15 member states are mostly English-speaking countries. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

The name of the organization changed from African Regional Industrial Property Organization to African Regional Intellectual Property Organization in 2005. 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ...

See also

• Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI)

The Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle or OAPI (English: African Intellectual Property Organization) is an intellectual property organization, headquartered in Cameroon. ...

External links

• Official website (http://www.aripo.wipo.net)
• List of members (http://www.aripo.wipo.net/membership.html)