Protection of Intellectual Property low in Botswana
Pauline Dikuelo | Tuesday March 15, 2016 14:21
Santos said this at the ARIPO seminar that started in Gaborone yesterday and is aimed at raising awareness on the importance of the protection of Intellectual Property (IP) in particular, on the advantages of the use of ARIPO route for the protection of IP rights.
The two-day seminar is held under the theme ‘Making better use of IP for business competitiveness and development in Africa’.
“Statistics show extremely low numbers of intangible goods and services protected through the system. In 40 years of the existence of the organisation only 11 patents, two industrial designs and one trademark were filed by Botswana nationals,” he said. ARIPO was established mainly to pool together resources of its member countries in intellectual property matters as well as promote harmonisation and development of the IP laws and matters.
However, statistics show that Botswana’s engagement with ARIPO is bearing fruit as, of the total 9,072 patent applications filed at ARIPO, at least 5,242 were designated to Botswana.
A designation is an international patent situation where a number of countries can be covered by the patent holder and the rights preserved to submit applications within them. On trademarks, there are at least 1,511 Botswana designation while on designs Botswana was included 785 times and on utility models 35 out of the 67 applications designated Botswana.
For her part, the Acting Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Rosinah Bontsi said since Botswana became a member of ARIPO in 1985, it has benefited immensely in terms of capacity building and financially.
“Botswana has benefited from technical assistance offered by ARIPO in the administration of the IP Act, which involves the examination of patents and industrial designs, training of staff in CIPA and conducting awareness seminars on IP laws,” Bontsi said. She added that Botswana also receives revenue from ARIPO through registration fees for patents and trademarks filed through regional systems.
She added that the seminar is coming at a right time when the country is looking to diversify the economy noting that Botswana needs to innovate and develop industries that are knowledge-based thus creating employment opportunities for citizens. “Through an IP system we can achieve this. It is my belief that by acquiring knowledge on IP, one will be in a position to influence thousands of students that the innovative projects they undertake can be turned into products which can be protected,” she said. Bontsi noted that the IP protection can allow such products to be further developed and commercialised through licensing and can provide economic empowerment and employment opportunities for students as they complete studies.
“An efficient IP administration system will attract more users of our IP services, which will contribute to positive growth as Botswana becomes more attractive for both domestic and foreign direct investment, which can lead to greater economic growth,” she added.