Paris Convention;

PCT;

ARIPO (Harare Protocol; and

WTO/TRIPS.

Patents of invention;

Divisional patents; and

Utility certificates for inventions that are new and industrially applicable.

A grace period of six months immediately preceding the filing date is provided, where disclosure was by reason or in consequence of the applicant or his predecessor in title displaying the invention at an official or officially recognised international exhibition, or by reason of an evident abuse in relation to the applicant or his predecessor in title.

Applications are subjected to formal examination which takes place automatically. The Patents Act provides that applications relating to specified technical fields will be subjected to substantive examination.

The duration of a patent is 10 years, extendible for further two terms of five years each, provided the owner or licensee can show that the patent was being worked in the United Republic, or that there were legitimate reasons for non‐working.

Maintenance fees are payable annually from the filing date for both pending applications and granted patents. A six months grace period is provided, subject to surcharges. Failure to pay the annual maintenance fees before the deadline or within the six-month grace period leads to lapsing of the application / patent.

At any time after the expiration of three years from the date of grant of a patent or four years from the filing date of the patent application, whichever is the later.

A High Court may grant a compulsory licence on the ground that the patented invention is not worked or sufficiently worked.