Von Seidels

Von Seidels is a specialist IP law firm in Africa with a team of over 100 people. We assist clients both locally and internationally in obtaining all forms of IP protection and deals with all IP related commercial activities, including agreements, valuations and litigation.

Our head office is in Cape Town and we have a satellite office in Johannesburg, South Africa. We have offices in ARIPO (Namibia), OAPI (Cameroon) and Nigeria.

Von Seidels ARIPO office is based in Namibia. ARIPO (African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation) is a regional IP filing system with 18 member countries: Botswana, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Von Seidels ARIPO office is managed by our partner Gunther Roland, a South African patent attorney, Namibian attorney and registered ARIPO representative. 

This office enables our firm to prepare and file ARIPO applications directly. Applicants can designate up to 18 countries in an ARIPO patent and 11 countries in a trade mark application.

Our offices cover the majority of the African continent. South Africa, ARIPO, OAPI and Nigeria combined comprise 70% of Africa’s countries. In the rest of Africa we work with trusted agents. 

With many years of experience working in Africa, we have vast local knowledge and understanding of country-specific legislative requirements and issues across this continent. 

Practice Areas: Copyright & related rights, Designs, Intellectual property (contentious), Intellectual property (prosecution), IP transactions, ITC litigation, Life sciences IP, Patent, Patent contentious, Patent prosecution, PTAB litigation, Trade mark, Trade mark contentious, Trade mark prosecution

Sector Expertise: Aerospace, Advertising, Agriculture, Artificial intelligence, Automotive, Biotechnology, Chemical, Computer technology & services, Construction & materials, E-commerce, Electrical, Electronics, Fashion & luxury goods, Film, Financial services, FMCG, Food & beverage, Gaming, ICT & software, Industrials, Internet, Life sciences, Manufacturing, Mechanical, Media, Medical device, Mining, Nanotechnology, Oil & gas, Optics & photonics, Pharmaceutical, Renewable energy, Retail, Robotics, Semiconductors, Sports, Technology hardware, Telecommunication, Universities & research