Coverage: The Meridian legal market record (editorial).
Ethiopia’s Minister of Innovation and Technology, Frehiwot Tamru, has directed the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Authority (EIPA), led by Director General Woldu Yimesil, to expand beyond registration and to fully digitalise application, examination and registration services for patents, utility models, trade marks and copyright.
The directives also call for a review of IP policies, proclamations, regulations and directives; disaggregated analysis of IP data; alignment of the next five-year strategic plan with the National Grand Strategy; and a policy, legal and institutional framework on ownership of AI-related inventions and works. These are ministerial directives, not enacted law; no timetable was published.
Source: TechAfrica News, 3 November 2026.
