Ethiopian Law

Do you know the Ethiopian law protects your industrial designs? What takes for an industrial design to be protected under Ethiopian law is to be registered under The Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office. To be registered the industrial design needs to fulfill the criteria of novelty and practical applicability.

The registration procedure

Industrial design applications should be filed will the EIPO in four copies either in Amharic or English using Form No.7 (Reg Art. 42(1)). The application contains two Parts:

1. A request for registration (form 7)
2. The design protection

Industrial design is submitted using form 7. In this form the information concerning the applicant, the agent if any, and other relevant information are presented.

After completing form 7 the applicant should:

1. First fill his/her name, address, nationality and country of residence and principal place of business (Reg. Art 41/2/).
2. Then, if the applicant is represented by an agent, the applicant should mark the first box. In addition to this the name and address of the agent must be filled in the space provided (Reg. Art 41(4))
3. The third step is to specify whether the representation of the design is in graphic representation or drawing or specimen.
4. Then, the type of products the industrial design is to be used must be listed (proc.Art 47(2))
5. In case of prior application the applicant can have a priority declaration. An applicant for industrial design registration can claim the right of initial application filed in other countries, if it is filed in Ethiopia within 12 months. Therefore, the filing date of the initial application filed in the foreign country is regarded as the date of filing.
6. As application fees must be paid earlier.  The applicant must mark the box that shows the application fee is paid.
7. The applicant should briefly describe the main features of the design which are considered to be new and claimed.
8. Then finally the applicant should sign and write the date. Here, it must be noted that the applicant should write his/her full name under his/her signature.

If you have any question or comment or need to get a practical legal support in this regard please Contact us.

Any pertinent information about trade mark registration and protection can be available from any Ethiopian Lawyer, Ethiopian Trade Mark Lawyer, Ethiopian Copyright Lawyer or Ethiopian Intellectual Property Lawyer.