Patentability Standards In Ethiopia: Lessons From Wto Regime And Some Selected Countries

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