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Patent examiners and the Research and Development institutions attend a 5-day ARPET training session in Zanzibar

18 Jul 2022

AfrIPI, the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO) held the Module B curriculum training session of the ARIPO Patent Examination Training (ARPET) programme from 11 to 15 July 2022. The 5-day course took place at Hotel Verde in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

This session developed the knowledge and skills of patent examiners and representatives from the Research and Development (R&D) institutions of national patent offices from the ARIPO Member and Observer States, specifically Angola, Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The key components of the ARPET course will enable participants to use patents as a source of information and build their search and examination capacity. It will also contribute to the timely granting of high-quality patents and stimulate the filing of patent applications in Africa.

The EPO and ARIPO launched the ARPET programme in September 2021 through the introduction of Module A training. This year, the ARPET programme focused on Module B – Advanced Patent Examination.

The ARPET training session was officially opened by the Minister of Trade and Industrial Development in Zanzibar, the Honourable Said Omar Shabaan. Additionally, representatives from the Business Registrations and Licensing Agency (BRELA) and the Zanzibar Business and Property Registration Agency (BPRA) took part and facilitated the session.