Memorandum of Understanding is signed by ARIPO and EUIPO

The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) has signed a deal (October 3rd) with the recently renamed European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to foster bilateral cooperation for matters related to trademarks, designs and enforcement thereof. Notably, EUIPO does not support patent applications through its Offices.

This Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) renews the previous 1999 and 2011 agreements and create opportunities for joint conferences, seminars, training programs to share expertise in IP matters and comparative IP studies.

Furthermore, EUIPO has invested heavily in automation and free to use databases for trademarks and designs. ARIPO trademarks were already part of TMview, but expansion is expected to DesignView, TMclass and Designclass. EUIPO’s newly built Similarity, which establishes the similarity between goods and services, was also addressed.