Patents, utility models and industrial designs: patentability and the exclusions for software and pharmaceutical products, provisional specifications, ARIPO examination and pre-grant opposition, annual fees and the 20-year term, compulsory licences, PCT and Harare filings, utility model certificates, design registration and employee inventions

Three registered rights for technical and design innovation

Title II of Law N° 055/2024 of 20/06/2024 on the protection of intellectual property (the IP Law), in force since 31 July 2024, protects technical and design innovation through five registered rights: patents for inventions (Articles 5 to 70), utility model certificates for lesser product innovations (Articles 71 to 104), industrial designs for the appearance of products (Articles 105 to 141), layout-designs of integrated circuits (Articles 142 to 181) and geographical indications (Articles 234 to 249). The general rules in The IP law and trade marks apply to all of them: exclusive rights arise only on registration (Article 253), the first applicant wins (Article 264), and an applicant based outside Rwanda must act through an authorised Rwandan industrial property agent (Article 251(2)).

Applications are filed with the Intellectual Property Division of the Rwanda Development Board's (RDB) Office of the Registrar General, which acts as the "competent authority". RDB's published patent procedure lists RDB itself, the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) and WIPO as filing routes, refers substantive examination to ARIPO (which it says takes at least two weeks) and states that formal examination may take three to six months. Rwanda is party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and the Hague Agreement on designs (both since 31 August 2011), ARIPO's Lusaka Agreement and Harare Protocol on patents and designs (since 2011) and the Budapest Treaty on the deposit of micro-organisms (since 4 December 2023), so most foreign applicants reach Rwanda through an international or regional filing rather than a first national one.

What can be patented

An invention is patentable if it is new, involves an inventive step and is industrially applicable (Article 5). Novelty is absolute: prior art includes any disclosure anywhere in the world, by publication, orally, by use or in any other way, before the filing or priority date (Article 6(2)). Two safety valves apply. A disclosure in the 12 months before filing does not count if it resulted from the applicant's own acts or from an abuse by a third party (Article 6(3)), and the same 12-month protection covers goods shown at officially recognised international exhibitions held in Rwanda, provided proof is filed with the application (Article 6(4)). An invention involves an inventive step if it would not have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (Article 7), and it is industrially applicable if it can be made or used in any industry (Article 8).

Article 23(1) excludes ten categories even where they would otherwise qualify: discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods; schemes, rules or methods for doing business, performing mental acts or playing games; methods of surgical or therapeutic treatment and diagnosis practised on the human or animal body (but not products for use in them); substances isolated from nature (but not the isolation processes); new uses of known substances, unless the use results in enhanced efficacy; plant and animal varieties and essentially biological processes, but not micro-organisms or microbiological processes; inventions whose commercial use is contrary to public order or morality; pharmaceutical products; mere presentations of data; and computer programs per se, software and their related databases.

Two exclusions that matter to investors: medicines and software

The pharmaceutical exclusion in Article 23(1)(h) is unusual and is often misreported. The Gazette text excludes "pharmaceutical products" and leaves an Order of the Minister in charge of health to determine which pharmaceutical products are excluded (Article 23(2)). Some commentaries on the 2024 law describe pharmaceuticals as patentable unless excluded; the law reads the other way round, and no implementing Order had been located at 10 October 2026. Pharmaceutical companies should therefore expect product claims to face objection in Rwanda, should consider process claims (Article 23 excludes products, not processes) and should watch for the health Minister's Order. The parallel provisions on marks allow the health Minister to limit the use of marks to promote generic medicines (Article 205(6)), and Article 40(1)(e) and (3) protect pharmacy preparations and regulatory testing.

For software the law draws a line familiar from European practice. Programs "per se" are excluded, but Article 23(3) keeps patentable process inventions consisting of steps performed by a computer and directed by a program, and product inventions in computer-implemented form: program code stored on a tangible medium, a general-purpose computer whose novelty arises from its combination with a specific program, and a program with additional technical features or a technical application in industry combined with hardware. Article 23(4) then adds a trade-off with no common equivalent: an applicant who files for such a computer-implemented invention waives the right to seek copyright protection for the same subject matter. A software company should decide, invention by invention, whether the 20-year patent is worth surrendering copyright in the same code, which is protected without formalities for the author's life plus 50 years, as Copyright, software and digital content explains.

Filing, provisional specifications and examination

An application contains a request, a description sufficient for a person skilled in the art, claims, an abstract and any drawings, and must relate to a single invention, with divisional applications allowed (Articles 9 to 17). The 2024 law introduced the provisional specification: an applicant may file with a provisional specification and then file the final specification within 12 months of the first application, in which case the priority date is the provisional filing date; if the final specification is not filed in time the application is treated as abandoned (Article 18). Several provisional applications for related inventions may be combined into one final specification filed within 12 months of the earliest (Article 19), and a complete application may be converted into a provisional one (Article 20). RDB charges RWF 10,000 for a provisional filing and RWF 30,000 for a final one.

Before substantive examination the competent authority checks exclusions and formalities; defects must be cured within 14 days of notification, the filing date moving to the date of the corrected application except for drawings, and an uncorrected application is treated as withdrawn (Article 24). For substantive examination it may rely on search and examination reports by a Rwandan specialised agency or an external organisation, on foreign search and examination results the applicant must supply under Article 252, and on international search and preliminary examination reports under the PCT (Article 26). The application is published in the Official Gazette within nine months of the requirements being met (Article 27), from which date the applicant has the rights of a patent owner, lost if an opposition succeeds (Article 28).

The 2024 law also introduced pre-grant opposition: any interested person may oppose the grant after obtaining the full contents of the application, the modalities to be set by Ministerial Order (Article 29). A decision on opposition may be appealed to the Commission of Appeal within three months of notification (Article 30). If the application meets the requirements the patent is granted and recorded; if not, the refusal is notified in writing within seven days of the decision (Article 31). After grant, a patent can be invalidated only by the competent court, on grounds of lack of novelty, inventive step or industrial application, excluded subject matter, lack of entitlement or insufficient description; the court may instead transfer the patent to a person who proves to be the true inventor (Article 34).

Rights, limits, term and annual fees

A patent confers the exclusive right to use the invention in Rwanda: for a product, making, importing, offering for sale, selling, using and stocking it; for a process, using the process and dealing in products obtained directly by it (Article 36). Each co-owner may sue infringers without the others' consent (Article 37). The rights do not extend to foreign vessels and vehicles temporarily in Rwanda, non-profit scientific research, a good-faith prior user who was using or seriously preparing to use the invention at the filing or priority date, private non-commercial acts, pharmacy preparations on prescription, or products put on the market in Rwanda or abroad by the patent owner or with its consent (Article 40(1)). That last limb is international exhaustion: parallel imports of genuine patented goods cannot be stopped under the patent, a broader rule than the national exhaustion that applies to marks. Article 40(3) also permits use reasonably related to developing and submitting information required by regulators, the so-called regulatory review exception.

Protection lasts 20 years from the filing date. An annual fee is paid in advance each year from the filing date, with each fee due on the anniversary of filing, a six-month grace period on payment of a surcharge, and lapse if the fee is not paid (Article 41). RDB's published tariff sets the annual fee at RWF 100,000 and the late-payment surcharge at RWF 30,000. A patent lost through non-payment may be reinstated on reasonable grounds if a written request is made within 12 months of the deadline (Article 263). Patents may be assigned and licensed in writing, but an assignment or licence is valid and enforceable only once recorded, and RDB may refuse to record one with anti-competitive clauses (Articles 42 to 47), as explained in Technology transfer, franchising and licensing. An industrial property title may also be given as security (Article 267).

Compulsory licences and Government use

A person who has asked the patent owner for a licence on reasonable commercial terms and failed to obtain it within a reasonable period may apply in writing to the Minister, with the prescribed fee and proof of the refused request (Article 50); RDB's tariff lists RWF 100,000. After hearing the owner and consulting the competent authority, the Minister may grant a compulsory licence where the invention is not being industrially or commercially used in Rwanda; is insufficiently used because the product is not available, through manufacture or importation, in sufficient quantity, adequate quality or at a reasonable price; is exploited, or a licensee is allowed to exploit it, in a way that lessens competition, restrains trade, abuses market power or unduly limits the dissemination of technology; or is needed to work a later patent (Article 51). For dependent patents the later invention must represent significant technical progress of considerable economic interest (Article 53). Decisions may be challenged in court (Article 56).

Separately, the Minister may decide, without the owner's consent but with compensation reflecting the invention's economic value, that a State organ or a designated third party may use a patented invention for national security, public health or environmental protection, or where a court or the competent authority has found anti-competitive use (Article 57). For investors the practical lesson is that working the patent in Rwanda, including by supplying the market through imports at reasonable prices, is the best defence: Article 51(2)(b) measures sufficiency by availability "through manufacture or importation", not only local manufacture.

PCT, Harare and national phase entry

RDB acts as a receiving office for regional and international applications filed by persons entitled under Article 250 (Article 62) and as the designated office where Rwanda is designated under the PCT or the Harare Protocol (Article 63). To enter the national phase of a PCT application the applicant files the application, pays the prescribed fee and supplies a translation where necessary; if the fee or translation is missing, the applicant has 30 days from an invitation to comply, failing which the application is treated as abandoned (Article 64). RDB's tariff charges USD 150 for national phase entry and collects international fees of CHF 1,330 for outgoing PCT applications. An application filed in a language other than an official language of Rwanda must be translated into one of them or is considered abandoned (Article 66(3) and (4)).

RDB will not start processing a regional or international application before the PCT or Harare time limits expire unless the applicant pays to have it processed early (Article 66(1) and (2)). A patent granted regionally or internationally designating Rwanda has the same effect as a Rwandan patent unless the competent authority notifies the regional or international bureau that the claims are excluded from protection in Rwanda (Article 65). An ARIPO patent under the Harare Protocol is therefore a sound route, but the Article 23 exclusions, notably for pharmaceutical products and software per se, can still be raised by RDB against an ARIPO application designating Rwanda.

Utility models: a cheaper, faster right for incremental products

A utility model certificate protects an innovation that is new and industrially applicable (Article 71); no inventive step is required, which makes it suited to practical improvements to tools, equipment and consumer products. Processes cannot be protected as utility models, nor can anything excluded from patents (Article 82). Examination, opposition, grant and invalidation follow the patent provisions (Articles 83 to 95), and an applicant may convert a patent application into a utility model application once, before grant or refusal, keeping the original filing date (Article 85); RDB charges RWF 5,000 for the conversion.

The certificate lasts 10 years from filing. Instead of annual fees, a single maintenance fee is due after five years to cover the remaining five, with a six-month grace period and surcharge, and the certificate lapses if it is not paid (Article 102). RDB charges RWF 10,000 to apply and RWF 20,000 to publish, RWF 250,000 to renew after five years and RWF 50,000 as the late surcharge, and its procedure page estimates 90 to 361 days to grant. Licences of right, compulsory licences and their challenge follow the patent rules (Article 104).

Industrial designs, layout-designs and geographical indications

An industrial design is an assembly of lines, colours or shapes that serves as a model for an industrial or craft product; it may be registered if it is new, but protection does not extend to features dictated solely by technical result, and designs contrary to public order or morality are excluded (Articles 105 and 107). Novelty is assessed worldwide, with a six-month grace period for disclosures by the applicant or abusive disclosures by others (Article 108), half the period allowed for inventions. The application is published in the Official Gazette after three months from the requirements being met (Article 113), and the applicant may ask for publication to be suspended for a period so that the design is not revealed before launch (Article 120). Opposition follows the patent model (Article 115).

A registered design lasts 15 years from filing, maintained by fees due at five years and at ten years, each with a six-month grace period and surcharge (Article 128). RDB charges RWF 30,000 to register and publish, RWF 50,000 for each renewal, RWF 20,000 as the surcharge, and USD 150 to transmit a Hague international application; regional and international design filings follow the patent provisions (Article 129). Layout-designs of integrated circuits are protected for 10 years (Article 165), and geographical indications, on which RDB charges RWF 10,000 to apply, for renewable periods of 10 years (Article 249). Plant varieties are outside the IP Law (Article 23(1)(f)); WIPO lists a separate 2016 law on plant varieties, and the ARIPO Arusha Protocol for plant varieties entered into force for Rwanda on 24 November 2024.

Who owns an employee's invention

Under Article 265, where an invention, utility model, design or layout-design is made by an employee in the course of executing an employment contract, the right to apply for registration belongs to the employer, unless the contract provides otherwise. If its economic value turns out higher than both parties could reasonably have foreseen when the contract was made, the employee is entitled to equitable remuneration reflecting that value. Where the employee makes an invention outside contractual duties but within the employer's field of activity, using data, means or knowledge available through the employment, the employee may apply for the title; the employer may ask for all or part of the rights in exchange for agreed remuneration, and if they cannot agree the court decides (Article 266).

Investors should therefore write invention clauses into Rwandan employment contracts and consultancy agreements, define the employee's inventive duties, and provide a mechanism for the equitable remuneration that Article 265(2) grants; unlike the ownership rule in Article 265(1), Article 265(2) is not expressed to yield to contrary contract terms, so a waiver in the contract may not be effective. Contractors and consultants are not employees, so their inventions need an express written assignment, recorded with RDB. Employment contracts are covered in Employment contracts and probation.

Obtaining a Rwandan patent through RDB

1. Secure ownership and confidentialityConfirm that employees and contractors have assigned their rights in writing and that no public disclosure has been made, or that any disclosure falls within the 12-month grace period of Article 6(3).
2. Choose the routeA national filing through an authorised Rwandan agent, an ARIPO application under the Harare Protocol designating Rwanda, or a PCT national phase entry (USD 150). Non-residents must use an agent (Article 251(2)).
3. File the applicationRequest, description, claims, abstract and drawings, with a provisional specification (RWF 10,000) or a final one (RWF 30,000). If provisional, file the final specification within 12 months (Article 18).
4. Cure formal defectsAnswer any formalities objection within 14 days of notification (Article 24). RDB indicates three to six months for formal examination.
5. Substantive examinationRDB's procedure refers substantive examination to ARIPO; the competent authority may also rely on PCT and foreign search and examination reports (Article 26). Supply foreign search and grant documents when asked (Article 252).
6. Publication and oppositionPublication in the Official Gazette within nine months of meeting the requirements (Article 27), with a publication fee of RWF 20,000; third parties may oppose before grant (Article 29), with appeal to the Commission of Appeal within three months (Article 30).
7. Grant and maintenanceThe patent is granted and recorded (Article 31). Pay the annual fee of RWF 100,000 on each anniversary of the filing date, within the six-month grace period at the latest (Article 41).