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Operations at the national intellectual property registry had stalled over the past year due to the national lockdowns and Covid-19 restrictions. This was further compounded by the Registry’s Industrial Property Automated System (IPAS) being inoperative since September 2020.

After an exceedingly long 8 months, the IPAS is finally up and running again and we are rearing to go!

Controller of Patents, Trademarks & lndustrial Designs has provided a plan of action on how his Office intends on managing the resultant backlog. The Registry is prioritising data capturing for applications made in 2020 and 2021. The IP monthly journal which had not been published in 8 months is slated for publication, at the latest in June 2021.

Though this is encouraging news, the Office has lost key members of its team and is remaining with only three Examiners, between which all the different processes will be split. Furthermore, Covid-19 restrictions are still in place, with reduced working hours and limitations of five searches and a maximum of five lodged documents per day from Monday to Thursday.

Undeterred by these few operational hurdles, we expect business at the Registry to return to normalcy in the coming months.

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BMATANGA IP NEWS DESK