Patent registration in Rwanda. Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley. The economy of Rwanda is based mostly on subsistence agriculture. Coffee and tea are the major cash crops for export. Tourism is a fast-growing sector and is now the country’s leading foreign exchange earner. Rwanda is one of only two countries in which mountain gorillas can be visited safely, and visitors pay high prices for gorilla tracking permits. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of patent registration in Rwanda.
Patent in Rwanda
According to Rwanda law, a patent in Rwanda is a grant of a property right given by the Government to an inventor. With a patent, the inventor, or the patentee will have the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling the invention in a country, or importing the invention into a country, along with other rights to protect their best interests.
To be patentable in Rwanda, an invention must satisfy the new, nonobvious, inventive, and industrially applicable requirements.
In addition, an invention that is patentable can also be an improvement on existing items or methods.
On the other hand, the unpatentable subjects in Rwanda are:
- Discoveries, laws of nature, and mathematical methods;
- Aesthetic designs;
- Systems, rules, and methods for the performance of mental labor, games or management, computer programs;
- Presentation of data and abstract ideas.
Necessary documents for patent registration in Rwanda
The necessary documents for patent registration in Rwanda include:
- The request to grant a patent (patent application);
- Detailed information on the applicant(s) including the applicant’s and inventor’s names, addresses, citizenships, etc.;
- A description of the invention;
- A signed and stamped power of attorney by the applicant(s);
- A copy of the amendments (if any);
- Priority documents (if any).
- Other required documents.
The procedure for patent registration in Rwanda
To obtain a patent in Rwanda, the applicant needs to file their patent application to the IP Office of Rwanda.
The patent application in Rwanda will quickly undergo a formal examination that usually lasts from 3-6 months to check if it complies with the basic requirements of the law.
Regardless of the results, the applicant will receive an acceptance notice on the outcome of the formal examination.
If the result is positive, the application will subsequently undergo a substantive examination. Like the formal examination, the examiners at the IP Office will send an examination report to the applicant and/or their representative in Rwanda.
If the report is negative, the report will include details on what to fix on the application. If the report is positive, the applicant pays the patent publication fee and other fees such as examination fees.
The patent is valid for one year and it’s subject to renewals at the end of this period with a stipulated payment.
You can see a list of Rwanda IP firms here.