Ethiopia signs the Final Act of the Riyadh Design Law Treaty

Addis Ababa, November 27, 2024 (FBC) – The Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MInT) today confirmed that Ethiopia has signed the Final Act of the Riyadh Design Law Treaty (DLT), a landmark agreement adopted by member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

After almost twenty years of negotiations, the Design Law Treaty (DLT) was adopted last Friday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, by the member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The Ministry said that Ethiopia is a historic member of the treaty as one of the member states that signed the Final Act. The Director General of the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Authority (EIPA), Mr. Woldu Yimesel, attended the diplomatic conference and signed the treaty on behalf of the Ethiopian government, the Ministry indicated.

Ethiopia, being a party to this treaty, will create an opportunity for its citizens’ design creations to gain international protection and increase competitiveness, as well as help preserve the results that are the outcomes of traditional knowledge and can be protected in the design sector, MInT mentioned.

The treaty is said to be comparable to the Patent Law Treaty (in force in Switzerland since 2008) and the Trademark Law Treaty (in force since 1997).

The treaty seeks to harmonize the procedural frameworks for industrial design protection, improving the efficiency and accessibility of registration processes across multiple jurisdictions. By standardizing procedural requirements, the DLT reduces administrative burdens, thereby promoting global creativity in design. Its goal is to ensure that the benefits of streamlined design protection are accessible to all stakeholders, with particular emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), startups, and independent designers.

The DLT introduces several key provisions aimed at benefiting design applicants, including relaxed time limits, the reinstatement of lost rights, the option to correct or add priority claims, simplified procedures for recording assignments and licenses, and the option to file multiple designs in a single application. These changes provide greater flexibility for design applicants.

Furthermore, the treaty encourages contracting parties to work towards implementing electronic industrial design systems and facilitating the electronic exchange of priority documents.