Patent registration in Tanzania. Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. Tanzania is mountainous and densely forested in the northeast, where Mount Kilimanjaro is located. Three of Africa’s Great Lakes are partly within Tanzania. In 2020, the World Bank declared the rise of the Tanzanian economy from a low-income to a lower-middle-income country. 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 Tanzania.
Patent in Tanzania
According to Tanzania law, a patent in this country 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 Tanzania, an invention must satisfy the requirement of new, inventive, and industrially applicability.
In addition, an invention that is patentable can also be an improvement on existing items or methods.
On the other hand, the subjects that are unpatentable in Tanzania 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 Tanzania
The necessary documents for patent registration in Tanzania include:
- The request to grant a patent (patent application);
- Detailed information on the applicant(s) including the applicant’s names, addresses, 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.
Documents for patent registration in Tanzania may be submitted in foreign languages, but a translation into the English language is required.
The procedure for patent registration in Tanzania
To obtain a patent in Tanzania, the applicant needs to file their patent application to the IP Office of Tanzania.
The patent application will undergo 3 main stages of examination after being submitted to the IP Office.
The first is the preliminary examination. During this stage, the examiners will check if the patent application is qualified to obtain a filing date or not, such as if the documents are filed in English, etc.
Next, the application will undergo a formality examination. If there are errors in formality, the applicant will be given a 3 months period to make amendments.
After the formality examination, the examiners will conduct a novelty search and publishes the application in the Patents Journal if there are no errors found.
Thirdly, the application will be examined as to substance. An amendment to the application at this stage is possible.
Lastly, the application is granted to the applicant.
Annual maintenance fees must be paid yearly to maintain the validity of the patent. The first payment of maintenance fees becomes due on the date of the publication of the patent application.
You can see a list of Tanzania IP firms here.