Geographical Indication (GI) options for Ethiopian Coffee and Ghanaian Cocoa

Reflections on the Lack of Biofuel Innovation in Egypt
of 2002, which consists of four Books, replaced all previous legislation related
to IP rights in Egypt in order to ensure the country’s compliance with the World
Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPS). The executive regulation for the EIPRL’s Book One
(related to patents) and Book Four (related to plant varieties) was issued by Prime
Ministerial Decree 1366 of 2003. This Decree addresses procedural issues not
specified in the EIPRL itself.
The EIPRL grants patents to all types of inventions in all fields of technology,
as long as these inventions meet certain basic criteria. An invention must
show some new characteristic not known prior to the application date or priority
date (absolute novelty). The invention must also be non-obvious to a person
skilled in the particular field of the invention (inventive step). (The EIPRL does
not, however, provide a definition for the requirements of an “inventive step”.)
Finally, an invention must be capable of being applied in industry in its broadest
sense (industrial applicability). According to Article 1 of the EIPRL:
A patent shall be granted, in accordance with the provisions of this Law, to any
industrially applicable invention, which is new, involves an inventive step, whether
connected with new industrial products, new industrial processes, or a new
application of known industrial processes. (Art. 1.1)
At the same time, Article 2 of the EIPRL, modelled on Article 27.2 of TRIPS,
excludes the following from patentability:
1 – Inventions whose exploitation is likely to be contrary to public order or
morality or prejudicial to the environment, human, animal or plant life and health.
4 – Plants and animals, regardless of their rarity or peculiarity, and essentially
biological processes for the production of plants or animals, other than
microorganisms, non-biological and microbiological process for the production
of plants. (Art. 2)
Egyptian patent law has therefore availed itself of Article 27 of TRIPS, which
allows TRIPS Member States to prohibit patentability of inventions in order to
protect public order or morality, including avoiding serious prejudice to the environment.
We are of the view that the EIPRL made Egyptian IP law “greener” by
excluding from patentability inventions that may cause prejudice to the environment
as well as providing specific treatment for plant varieties. However, the Law
does not provide a clear standard as to how to assess serious prejudice to the
environment (Derclaye, 2010).
The EIPRL’s Article 2 explicitly excludes plants from patent protection. The
Law also establishes a sui generis system for plant varieties: Article 189 of the
EIPRL states that plant varieties, whether derived inside or outside Egypt, shall
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