Abstract:
Patents play an increasingly important role in innovation and economic performance. An invention, by
itself, is not like physical property that we own. But when a patent is used to protect an invention, the act
of patenting makes it a kind of private property that the owner can control. In contemporary time, there
is movement of resources, including inventions. As a result, there is a need for a harmonized patent
regime. This event requires WTO members to enact new patent laws or amend existing ones to make them
TRIPS compliant. Ethiopia has enacted Proclamation concerning Inventions, Minor Inventions and
Industrial Designs of 123/1995 in order to administer invention issues. Most of the provisions of the
Ethiopian Patent Law, which was enacted in 1995, are bizarrely TRIPS and compliant. However, there
are no examination guidelines except Patent proclamation and regulations. Besides, there are lack of
experienced and trained expertise in patent examination and patent attorney. The Ethiopian patent regime
is seriously faced with absences of clear patent policy. There is also problem of lack of awareness among
the society towards patent protections. This thesis examines patentability standards in Ethiopia and
ensuring lessons from WTO Regime and selected countries as effective remedies by employing
comparative study . Finally, in this thesis, it is argued that the Ethiopian patent system should continue to
observe TRIPS and other selected countries patent standards to have solutions for the existing problem
