ARIPO’s decision to put plant variety protection at the center of its 50th-anniversary agenda was more than conference programming. Official ARIPO materials show that the Arusha Protocol entered into force on 24 November 2024, with Cabo Verde, Ghana, Rwanda and São Tomé and Príncipe as the current Contracting States, allowing breeders to file through ARIPO for protection in designated Contracting States.The practical takeaway this week is not that Cabo Verde has suddenly “joined” the system. ARIPO has listed it among the Contracting States since the Protocol came into force. What is...
As of early July 2026, KIPI was still hosting the Draft Geographical Indications Bill, 2026 and its memorandum submission tools on its official channels, while the Ministry’s verifiable public notice was submitted on April 9, 2026. The real story is not that Kenya has coined another IP label. It is that Kenya is trying, for the first time, to move origin-linked quality and reputation into a dedicated statute instead of leaving the issue to sit awkwardly at the edge of trademark practice.That shift matters well beyond local agriculture. It affects how tea, coffee, craft, processed food and...
As of early July 2026, the Kenya Industrial Property Institute is still hosting the draft Geographical Indications Bill, 2026 and its submission channel, while the Ministry’s publicly verifiable notice was submitted on 9 April 2026. What matters here is not simply that another IP bill has appeared. Kenya is trying, for the first time, to pull origin-linked product identity out of ordinary trademark logic and give it a dedicated statute of its own.For tea, coffee, cocoa, handicrafts and region-linked manufactured goods, that changes more than registration mechanics. It affects who may...
New Zealand has announced a further update to its plant variety rights (PVR) framework. The government plans to add five years to the maximum term of both existing and newly granted rights, restore the ability to enforce interim protection while an application is pending, and bring PVR fee-setting into closer alignment with the patent system. IPONZ says the amending bill is expected later in 2026, so the scope, transitional rules and commencement dates remain subject to the legislation. The July 1 issue of the Plant Variety Rights Journal, No. 186, mainly covers DUS trial deadlines,...
