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...

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,...

Since 15 September, Rouse and several other IP firms practising in the UAE have reported that the Ministry of Economy and Tourism and its Trade Mark Office are accepting trade mark applications for alcoholic beverages in Class 33 with immediate effect, and that beer can now be named as such in Class 32. Until now Class 33 was not available in the UAE under local policy, so owners of wine and spirits brands generally protected themselves indirectly through fallback classes such as non-alcoholic beverages in Class 32. The reports state that this is a change in Trade Mark Office practice and...