SOMALILAND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFFICE

The Somaliland Intellectual Property Office (SOMIPO) oversees Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues under the mandate of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism. The country has currently developing a legal regime for the protection of intellectual property rights even though, it has not a member of a number of major IPR treaties, such as the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) copyright treaty, the Berne Convention for Literary and Artistic Works, the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks, and the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

Somaliland which has been re-building its infrastructure and its nascent democracy since May 1991, is currently developing a modern law dealing with intellectual property. Somaliland does, however, consider itself bound by the international conventions that the 1960 to 1991 Somali (Democratic) Republic has acceded to, as generally confirmed in Article 10 of the Constitution of the Republic, even those that have not been acceded to Somali Republic. It remains the case, however, that whilst full compliance with and application of some of these conventions and involvement in their governing bodies is severely constrained by the Somaliland’s lack of international recognition, there is a commitment on the part of Somaliland to abide, as far as it is allowed to do so, by the provisions of the above mentioned international conventions.

Intellectual Property (IP) Law is that area of law which relates to legal rights concerning creative effort or commercial reputation or goodwill. The (UN) World Intellectual Property Organisation WIPO mentions, in its website, that IP is divided into two categories:

  • Industrial property, which includes
    • inventions (patents), 
    • trademarks, 
    • industrial designs, and 
    • geographic indications of source. 
  • Copyright, which includes:
    • literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, 
    • artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and 
    • architectural designs. 

The following legal texts are the primary key laws:

The following Somaliland Protectorate laws relating to intellectual property are still applicable in the country:

  • The United Kingdom Trade Marks Ordinance No. 9 of 6 August 1938. This was based on the UK Trade Marks Act 1938 which, in the UK, has since been extensively amended
  • The United Kingdom Patents Ordinance No. 9 of 13 November 1924, as amended by Ordinances 7 and 17 of 1932. Again, this very dated Ordinance would have been similar to this 1924 UK Patent Act applying to Grenada.
  • The United Kingdom Designs (Protection) Ordinance No. 5 of 1928 (as amended).
  • Draft of the Patents, industrial designs and Trademarks registration in Somaliland

For Further Information please visit the following Links
http://www.somalilandlaw.com/somaliland_intellectual_proper.html
https://www.adams.africa/intellectual-property/insights-intellectual-property-rights-somaliland/