Adams & Adams Partner, Stephen Hollis, and Africa Practice Manager, Menzi Maboyi, travelled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 23 – 26 June 2024 to visit our Associate Office and the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Authority (EIPA), where they were scheduled to meet with the Director General (DG) of the EIPA, Mr Woldu Yemessel Baraki, and the various departmental heads.
Mr Baraki assumed the position of DG in April 2023 after having served as Managing Director of a government media corporation, Fana Broadcasting Corporate, for more than a decade. Mr Baraki replaced Dr Ermias Yemanebirhan Hailemariam as DG who had held the position from November 2017.
We met Mr Woldu in the company of the managing partner of our Ethiopian Office, Ms Lidet Abebe Tizazu. We were warmly welcomed by the DG, who proceeded to highlight the many initiatives that he intends to launch and implement in the near future, to improve the EIPA's efficiencies, streamline IP registration processes, and update Ethiopia's IP laws to better align with current international best practice.
Having been engaged in the media, broadcasting and film and television industries previously, the DG fully appreciates the commercial value of IP assets, and how foreign direct investment into Ethiopia's economy can be supported by the EIPA's activities as it relates to the updating of Ethiopia's IP laws and improving the timelines in which IP registration processes are completed.
The DG informed that special projects are already underway for Ethiopia to become a member of the World Trade Organization before the end of next year (2025). Also, for Ethiopia to accede to important IP treaties, including the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, WIPO's Madrid Protocol, and Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).
The DG noted and thanked Adams & Adams for its continued support and submissions made through our local office on the proposed IP law reform project. As a firm, we remain committed to support the EIPA and to assist wherever we can, and we wish the new DG and his team all the very best in the exiting times ahead, as they look to reposition Ethiopia on the international stage as a country with first rate IP laws and modern Registry practices.