Les enjeux de la protection des dessins et modêles industriels dans le développement en afrique

• Author: Stéphanie Ngo Mbem

Reviewed by Francois Curchod

Mr. Curchod is a former Deputy Director General of WIPO and a former associate professor at the Robert Schuman University, which integrated the University of Strasbourg on January 1, 2009.

The publication of a book on industrial designs occurs less frequently than on any other area of intellectual property. The publication of a book on African law is even less frequent, so a publication that discusses both subjects, such as this one by Stéphanie Ngo Mbem, is to be welcomed.

Despite the fascinating complexities of industrial design law, arising from its position on the border between industrial property and copyright, its status as the most neglected area of intellectual property is well known. The overriding significance that this area of law presents for the development of African countries - which generate a substantial number of aesthetic creations, but few patentable inventions - is, however, less well known. Despite beliefs, sometimes discussed ad nauseam , concerning the effect patents have on development in these countries in terms of technology transfer, it is too often forgotten that the patent system barely helps to stimulate local innovative activity in Africa, at least as things stand at present. Drawing these facts to our attention is not the least of this book's merits. Indeed, although this timely work concentrates on the 16 sub-Saharan African countries that are members of the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI), many of the points it elaborates are valid for the entire African continent, if not the developing world in general.

Anyone looking for general information on the OAPI system will find the first part of this book very useful. It also presents very interesting legal analyses of the development of design protection in this regional intellectual property system, as well as of its practical application. The author analyzes, in particular, possible reasons for the low level of usage of the OAPI registration system, such as lack of knowledge about the existence of design protection...