32 Government Gazette 23 March 2012 Act No. 1, 2012 No. 4907 INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ACT, 2012 ARIPO patents 44. (1) Where an application for the grant of a patent in ARIPO is filed with the Office as the receiving office as contemplated in Article 2 of the Harare Protocol, the Registrar must without delay transmit the application to the office of ARIPO and perform such acts as are required of him or her, after which the application must be processed in accordance with the provisions of the Harare Protocol. (2) If the office of ARIPO decides to grant a patent on an application and notifies the Registrar, the Registrar must – (a) accord as the filing date of the application, the filing date accorded to the application by the office of ARIPO; (b) determine whether the application complies with sections 35 and 36; (c) if the Registrar finds that the requirements referred to in sections 35 and 36 are not complied with, communicate in writing to the office of ARIPO within six months from the date on which the Registrar was notified, that if a patent is granted by that office that patent has no effect in Namibia; (d) if the Registrar finds that the requirements referred to in sections 35 and 36 are complied with, deal with the application in accordance with sections 38 and 39. (3) A patent granted by ARIPO by virtue of the Harare Protocol and in respect of which Namibia is a designated State, has the same effect in Namibia as a patent granted under this Act unless the Registrar has communicated to ARIPO in respect of the application therefor, a decision as contemplated in subsection (2)(c). PART 6 DURATION OF PATENT AND ANNUAL FEES Duration of patent and extension 45. Subject to section 46, a patent expires 20 years after the filing date of the application for the patent in terms of section 34(1), 44(2)(a) or 83(2)(c), as the case may be. Annual fees 46. (1) In order to maintain the patent or patent application, the owner of the patent or the applicant for a patent must, in the manner prescribed, pay to the Registrar the prescribed annual fee for each year starting one year after the filing date of the application for the grant of the patent. (2) If the owner of a patent or the applicant for a patent fails to pay the prescribed fee within the prescribed period, the Registrar may on request by the owner or applicant, grant a grace period not exceeding six months within which the annual fee and any prescribed surcharge must be paid by the owner or applicant.