Ethiopia is well placed to join its East African neighbours as an innovation hub following this month’s approval by the House of Peoples’ Representatives for the country’s accession to key international intellectual property instruments, say experienced lawyers Dawit Kidane and Fitsum Sitotaw.
“On 5 November, our Parliament approved ratification of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Madrid Protocol for the International Registration of Marks, which is part of Ethiopia being in the negotiation phase to join the WTO (World Trade Organisation),” said Dawit, the managing partner of leading Ethiopian firm DABLO Law. “Following Parliament’s approval for the ratification of these international treaties, we expect there will be a lot of changes regarding trademark, design and patent applications in Ethiopia.”
A fast-growing firm that was one of the pioneers following revolutionary changes to legal practice in Ethiopia in 2021, alongside rapid economic liberalisation, DABLO Law has established a dedicated intellectual property team due to growing demand in the sector.
“We have been monitoring the demand for IP protection, and worked to meet the demand,” said Fitsum, the firm’s head of consultancy and compliance. “Our practices include trademark registration, patent applications and industrial design registration, and we’ve created an internal IP service management system that has been functioning well for clients.”
DABLO Law is also part of Alliott Global Alliance, an elite coalition of top legal and accounting experts in 220 member firms in some 100 countries, and collaborates with one of the biggest international IP firms. The early years of their IP practice have mostly been focused on international registrations, noted Dawit, but as the local Ethiopian trademark regime is enhanced, they are ideally placed to guide clients through its challenges and opportunities.
“One of the big current challenges is with the systems at the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office, which are not capable of finalising trademark registrations and other IP services quickly, due to network problems and the application load on staff,” Dawit explained. “Also, because we’re not yet part of the key international treaties, every trademark must be registered in Ethiopia to get protection, and so there are infringements everywhere.”
There is also an awareness problem in the Ethiopian business community, continued Dawit, such as confusion between trade names and trademarks, where people expect once they have a trade name that they also have trademark protection, which is not the case. DABLO Law regularly updates its clients, has prepared a registration and protection guide, and is looking to help educate and engage with the business community and relevant authorities in the future.
While there are current gaps in awareness and regulation when it comes to IP protections in Ethiopia, the future is looking bright, say Dawit and Fitsum. With its young population and economic reforms, they believe Ethiopia is set to contribute to East Africa’s reputation for innovation.
“There are new government initiatives and support programmes, and these businesses want to protect their IP, their innovations and trademarks,” noted Fitsum. “This is a huge opportunity, and I think if the young people in these startups and businesses continue doing what they’re doing now with innovation, Ethiopia can be a hub for technological advancement.”