Rwanda has been ranked among the best-performing countries towards registration of Intellectual Property Rights in the year 2022 with 5.414 scores placing the country on the 3rd position in Sub-Saharan Africa and 54 in the world by the International Property Rights Index.
The International Property Rights Index is the flagship publication of Property Alliance Rights, an affiliate of America’s for Tax Reform Foundation advocating for the protection of innovation, intellectual property rights, and physical property rights around the world.
The sixteenth edition annual report covered 129 countries in the year 2022 representing 93.91% of the world population and 98.12% of the global GDP.
Finland (8.17) Singapore (7.97) Switzerland 7.94 achieved the highest property rights protection.
According to the report, Rwanda scored 4.467 in Patent Protection as well as 4.053 in Trademark Protection.
Available statistics from the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) indicate that over 63,000 people so far registered their innovations country-wide.
Rwanda ratified numerous international treaties on intellectual property rights including the Madrid Agreement concerning the international registration of trademarks adopted in Spain on 27 June 1989 as well as an additional protocol on the agreement of Lusaka, Zambia of December 9, 1976 on the creation of African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) on patents and industrial designs within the frameworks of the African regional intellectual Organization (ARIPO) adopted on December 10, 1982 at Harare, Zimbabwe.
Globally, the average IPRI score is 5.19 marking a decrease of 7.3% since last year.
Nonetheless, the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) component remained steady at 5.24 since last year, while the Legal and Protection Political Environment LP component fell by 0.4% to a score of 5.06.
Hernando de Soto, the co-author of the report commenting on the report, said, property rights have repeatedly proven to be the key to rebounding from crisis to prosperity.
“This comparative report highlights property rights as essential pillars in a just and flourishing society. For the sixteenth edition of the IPRI, this report reinforces the principle that property rights have a strong, positive correlation to the economic strength and overall quality of life in a given country,” he said lauding the publication of the report.
