Beyond the ‘spaghetti bowl’: assessing the role of the AfCFTA Protocol on Intellectual Property in Africa’s complex regulatory environment

Abstract For decades, international IP frameworks have been criticized for neglecting forms of IP, such as traditional knowledge, that are crucial to middle- and low-income economies but often do not conform to the global standards set by Western conceptions of IP. This oversight continues to shape IP policy development even in African countries, many of which struggle to create IP policies that align with their unique economic and developmental needs. In response to these challenges and driven by an expressed commitment to fostering and safeguarding African innovation and forms of IP, 54 African nations have recently adopted an IP Protocol to the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). However, given the continent’s already fragmented IP regulatory landscape, this article questions whether the AfCFTA Protocol on IP (AfCFTA IP Protocol) can successfully foster the development of frameworks that reflect Africa’s distinctive socio-economic realities and priorities. This article evaluates the protocol in relation to previous attempts at continental IP harmonization efforts in Africa and examines the extent to which the AfCFTA IP Protocol can be deployed to achieve its stated goals of IP harmonization on the continent. While the AfCFTA IP Protocol is a positive initiative, its introduction and adoption may be somewhat premature, given the continent’s ‘spaghetti bowl’ of IP regulations.