Liberia has been selected by the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) to host its annual administrative and ministerial councils meetings—a major success for the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) led-government on its aim at upholding the policies and laws of Intellectual Property and Trade.
The meeting, according to a press statement from the Liberia Intellectual Property Office (LIPO) is the 43rd Administrative and Seventeenth Ministerial Councils sessions respectively. It is expected to be held at Farmington Hotel in Harbel, Margibi County from 18 to 22 November 2019.
ARIPO is member-states driven Regional Intellectual Property organization, which facilitates cooperation among member states to pull together scarce resources for the development, protection and advancement of Intellectual Property in Africa.
Currently, there are 19 participating member states of ARIPO, which include Botswana, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Kingdom of Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
A statement quoting Atty. P. Adelyn Cooper, Director General of LIPO says the weeklong meeting is expected to bring to the shores of Liberia more than hundred delegates from Africa and the World.The meeting, Atty. Cooper says, comes at a time when the country through policies development and strategies, is making enormous efforts in promoting positive image and value addition for economic rights as a measure against infringement and other IP related offenses or crime.
“Amid the challenges, we are working to improve the IP regime in Liberia, and this meeting is a testament of the hard work we are doing to push Liberia on the map as well as strengthening the fight against IP theft locally and international,” Atty. Cooper says.
For his part, Prof. Wilson K. Tarpeh, Minister of Commerce and Board Chairman of LIPO says: “We are expected as a country to benefit from improved image of our governance in upholding the rules and laws of Intellectual Property and overall commitment to the principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO).”
He says this will also position Liberia through government offices to provide leadership guidance to ARIPO.Furthermore, during the meetings, the release adds, council members will deliberate and discuss the administrative aspects of ARIPO, its program of activities for the ensuing calendar year taking into consideration reports from various statutory committees.
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The release also adds that the meeting will be attended by observers from ARIPO cooperative partners including the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and OrganisationAfricaine de la PropriétéIntellectuelle (OAPI), the Japan Patent Office, the State Intellectual Property office (SIPO) of the People’s Republic of China and the United States Patent Office (USPTO), among others.
IPO is a semi-autonomous agency in the executive branch of Government responsible for the promulgation and development of policies that enhance the protection, commercial exploitation and enforcement of Intellectual Property rights or property, which derive from the mind, within the bailiwick of Liberia.–Press release
