Monrovia – Liberia has now become an attractive venue for several high profile International meetings and conferences since the end of the Country’s Civil War in 2003.
This year the government of President George Manneh Weah through the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Liberia Intellectual Property office (LIPO) will host the 43rd session of the Administrative Council and Seventeenth Ministerial Council meetings of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO).
The four-day gathering will run from November 18 to 22, 2019, and will bring together over one hundred (100) delegates from across Africa and the world at large. The meeting which is Liberia’s first global intellectual property Conference is expected to take place at the Farmington Hotel in Charlesville, Margibi County.
The annual gathering is regularly organized by ARIPO for member States to facilitate cooperation with an objective to pull together scarce resources for the development, protection and advancement of Intellectual Property in Africa. Currently there are Nineteen (19) Countries in Africa, including Liberia who is member of the Regional Intellectual Property organization.
The Liberia Intellectual Property Office is a semi-autonomous agency of the Liberian Government that is responsible for the development and protection of Intellectual Property rights; including Patents, Trademarks, Utility Models, Industrial Designs and Copyright within the Republic of Liberia.
By Act of legislature on July 14, 2016 the Liberia Intellectual Property Office (LIPO) became an operating name after the office previously operated with distinct and separate leaderships “Liberia Copyright Office and Liberia Industrial Property Office” respectively were combined.
The intent of the new establishment is to enable LIPO provide a clear and accessible Intellectual Property system in Liberia, which encourages creativity and innovations and to help the Liberian economy and society benefit from knowledge and ideas.
Liberia Minister of Commerce and Industry, Hon. Wilson Tarpeh expressed delight that Liberia will have an opportunity to give a spotlight to its quest in adding value to intellectual properties with the host of the ARIPO Meetings.
“We are expected to benefit from improve image of our governance to upholding the rules and laws of Intellectual Property and overall commitment to the principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO)”, Minister Tarpeh Stressed.
Liberia is expected to ascend to the Chairmanship to both the Administrative and Ministerial Councils, which will see the Country providing policy directions to ARIPO for the next two years.
Apart from the Conference delegates, Liberia’s President George Weah is expected to grace the opening session while the Director General of ARIPO Fernando Dos Santos and the Head of Africa Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Mark Sery-Kore will attend the conference in full.
At least seven Ministers from ARIPO Member States will join representatives from the European Union Intellectual Property Office, The United States Patent Office, the Japan Patent Office, and Canadian Patent Office among others.