Intellectual Property: 6,000 patents in 2015 including 2,000 requests from foreign institutions

The Director of the Algerian National Industrial Property Institute, Abdelhafid Belmehdi, has stated that the relevant institute has so far recorded nearly six thousand application files for a patent with 2,000 of them related to foreign institutions.

He also indicated that there will be shortly a review of the legal system relating to the safeguarding of industrial property rights.

Mr Belmehdi made the statement on the sidelines of a seminar organized in Algiers by the Embassy of the United States of America in Algeria from 20 to 21 September 2016 – in collaboration with the National Office of Copyright and Related Rights (ONDA), the US Chamber of Commerce and the Algerian National Institute of industrial property (INAPI).

This timely seminar on intellectual property has been held under the theme “the right of intellectual property and its impact on economic development: the case of the pharmaceutical industry in Algeria.”

 The seminar is attended by two US experts:

• Mrs Aisha Y. Salem, an expert in intellectual property law with the Patent Office and the United States Trademark Office (USPTO) for the region of North Africa and the Middle East,

• Dr. Tim Wittig, advisor to federal laboratories Protection technology and transfer challenges.

The two US experts will join the Algerian experts to thoroughly discuss intellectual property rights and their impact on an economy based on technology and innovation.

For her part, the US ambassador in Algiers, Her Excellency Mrs Joan Polashik, stressed in her speech during the opening session that the workshop falls within the framework of cooperation that links Algeria and the United States in seeking to improve the conditions and fostering the appropriate environment for the flourishing of intellectual property rights in Algeria.

She also underlined that the intellectual protection is an urgent need in order to establish an economy based on technology and sustained continued growth upon a solid base with a view to creating more job opportunities.

The US government is engaged in effective protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in the world and recognizes the importance of applying these rights in promoting economic development notably in Algeria, she added.