Sign in to register a work
You need an ACE account to register IP. All records are tied to your account.
Register Your Work
ACE records authorship, ownership, licence terms, and provenance for creative works, software, traditional knowledge, methods, and tradeable services.
Each registration is hash-timestamped, stored in a secure record, and can be made publicly verifiable.
This registration is part of ACE's support for the application of the AfCFTA Trade in Services framework. ACE is not the AfCFTA Secretariat and does not issue AfCFTA certificates. Registrations record authorship, licence terms, and provenance. Rights remain with the holder. Legal IP registration remains the responsibility of the relevant national or regional authority.
What can you register?
There are four kinds of work. Choose the picture that matches what you made. It will take you to the registration form with the right category already selected.
Things you can touch
A garment, a piece of jewellery, a carved object, a packaged product, a printed book, a painting, a textile.
Things you cannot touch
Software, code, a system design, an algorithm, a dataset, a manuscript, a musical composition, a screenplay, a formula, a pattern, a brand.
Traditional knowledge
A plant preparation method, a weaving technique, a dye recipe, a healing practice, a fermentation process, a story, a song.
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What you do
A doctor consulting, a trainer teaching, a laboratory testing, a formulator developing, a regulatory advisor guiding, a photographer shooting.
Not sure which one applies? Most works fit one of these four. If your work has more than one part, for example a physical product with software inside, you can register each part separately.
Confirm the category
We set these based on the card you chose. You can change them if needed.
The work
Basic information about the creation.
Authorship and parties
Who made it, who owns it, who benefits, who may use it. Add as many parties as apply.
Add a party
Community and consent
Only applies if this work involves community-held knowledge or traditional methods.
Benefit sharing
Optional. Record any agreed benefit-sharing arrangement. ACE records the obligation. The competent authority authorises the actual distribution.
External registrations
Optional. Link any registration you already hold from a national, regional, or international authority.
Add an external registration
File upload
Optional. If you upload a file, ACE computes a SHA-256 hash before upload.
Licence, protection, and visibility
How others may use the work, and how much of the record is visible.
Declaration and submit
Review and confirm. This creates the registration and all related records.
Registration submitted
Your work has been registered with all related records.
A reviewer may check the record.