About Us

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The International Panel of Legislators for the Advancement of African Intellectual Property IPLA is a non-political and non-partisan network of African Legislators and other forces drawn from across the globe.

IPLA is motivated by the desire to see Africa benefit from its vast array of Intellectual Property IP through capacitating and empowering African Parliamentarians to enact laws and lobby policies that effectively protect and advance the integrity of Africa’s IP in a manner that fosters the continent’s industrial transformation and integration and inspires sustainable development and economic growth.

Inadequate laws have exposed African intellectual property in general and Traditional Knowledge (TK) in particular to misappropriation and exploitation by third (external) parties including large multinational corporations with little or no benefit accruing to either the knowledge holders or the countries of origin.

Apart from plugging weaknesses in legislation and policies, IPLA also advocates for adequate restitution to those on the continent whose IP has been misappropriated and/or illegally exploited with the offending parties being requested to cease and desist.

IPLA is dually registered by Deeds of Trust in Harare and Yaoundé, seats of the two regional Intellectual Property organisations ARIPO (African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation) and OAPI (Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle).

IPLA’s current membership (which continues to grow) is 220 serving legislators drawn from the following parliaments: Botswana, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Lesotho, Kenya, Madagascar, Republic of South Africa, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.