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Protecting Trade Marks in
Africa Ron Wheeldon Attorneys Tel: Cell:
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Protecting Trade Marks in Africa
Introduction Africa is seen as one of the leading areas for economic growth within the next few decades as much of it is underdeveloped but it has a burgeoning population and it remains extremely rich in raw materials. It is a Continent of opportunity, but also one of extreme lawlessness. Counterfeiting is huge, some sources believe that more counterfeit goods are sold in Sub-Saharan Africa than genuine goods, and that by a large margin. This talk is too short to do more than scratch the surface, but my aim is to give you an overview of the protection regimes.
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AFRICA Morocco Algeria Libya Egypt Mauritania Niger Sudan Mali Chad
Tunisia Morocco Algeria Libya Western Sahara (Morocco) Egypt Mauritania Niger Sudan Eritrea Senegal Djibouti The Gambia Mali Chad Burkina Faso Guinea-Bissau Guinea Côte d'Ivoire Benin Nigeria Ethiopia Togo Sierra Leone Liberia Ghana Central African Republic South Sudan Cameroon Somalia EG Uganda Kenya São Tomé and Príncipe Gabon Congo Republic DR Congo R B Tanzania Seychelles Comoros Mayotte (France) Angola Zambia Malawi Mozambique B=Burundi Zimbabwe Mauritius EG=Equatorial Guinea Namibia Madagascar L=Lesotho Botswana R=Rwanda S S=Swaziland L South Africa
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African Intellectual Property Organisation (“OAPI)
International Madrid The good news for those using the International system of registration under Madrid is that a number of African countries are members. Since the African Union, Gambia and Zimbabwe joined in 2015, it is a substantial number. They are: African Intellectual Property Organisation (“OAPI) Algeria Botswana Egypt Gambia Ghana Kenya Lesotho Liberia Madagascar Morocco Mozambique Namibia Rwanda Sierra Leone Sudan Swaziland Zambia
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Madrid Members Morocco Algeria Libya Egypt Mauritania Niger Sudan Mali
Tunisia Morocco Algeria Libya Western Sahara (Morocco) Egypt Mauritania Niger Sudan Eritrea Senegal Djibouti The Gambia Mali Chad Burkina Faso Guinea-Bissau Guinea Côte d'Ivoire Benin Nigeria Ethiopia Togo Sierra Leone Liberia Ghana Central African Republic South Sudan Cameroon Somalia EG Uganda Kenya São Tomé and Príncipe Gabon Congo Republic DR Congo R B Tanzania Seychelles Comoros Mayotte (France) Angola Zambia Malawi Mozambique B=Burundi Zimbabwe Mauritius EG=Equatorial Guinea Namibia Madagascar Botswana L=Lesotho R=Rwanda S S=Swaziland L South Africa
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African Intellectual Property Organisation ("OAPI")
This system covers mainly Francophone Africa and replaced the domestic systems that existed in the constituent states, so that no national system of registration is available in these states. They number 17 and are:
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OAPI Morocco Algeria Libya Egypt Mauritania Niger Sudan Mali Chad
Tunisia OAPI Morocco Algeria Libya Western Sahara (Morocco) Egypt Mauritania Niger Sudan Eritrea Senegal Djibouti The Gambia Mali Chad Burkina Faso Guinea-Bissau Guinea Côte d'Ivoire Benin Nigeria Ethiopia Sierra Leone Togo Liberia Ghana Central African Republic South Sudan Cameroon Somalia EG Uganda Kenya São Tomé and Príncipe Gabon Congo Republic DR Congo R B Tanzania Seychelles Comoros Mayotte (France) Angola Zambia Malawi Mozambique B=Burundi Zimbabwe Mauritius EG=Equatorial Guinea Namibia Madagascar Botswana L=Lesotho R=Rwanda S S=Swaziland L South Africa
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African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation ("ARIPO")
This is a system brought into being in 1976 under the Lusaka Agreement. It is probably best known for Patent protection in terms of the Harare Protocol. Quite a few people familiar with ARIPO and aware of the member countries may be misled into thinking that the trade mark regime extends to the same countries as the patent regime. This is not the case. The trade mark regime extends only to signatories of the Banjul Protocol as illustrated on the following table:
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I have included the other protocols except the Swakopmund Protocol on Traditional Knowledge which is apparently not yet in force. ARIPO for trade marks has some interesting wrinkles. One is that the ARIPO office in Harare and the Zanzibar trade mark office do not believe it extends to Zanzibar, notwithstanding that Zanzibar is part of the United Republic of Tanzania, that signed the Banjul Protocol. More on this subject a bit later. Another issue is that by no means all of the signatories have updated their legislation to recognise ARIPO registrations. This leaves the curious situation where the country has committed to protecting trade marks registered under ARIPO but the relevant trade mark law makes no mention of it. Unfortunately this is still the case in the majority of the Banjul Protocol signatories.
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ARIPO Morocco Algeria Libya Egypt Mauritania Niger Sudan Mali Chad
Tunisia ARIPO Morocco Algeria Libya Western Sahara (Morocco) Egypt Mauritania Niger Sudan Eritrea Senegal Djibouti The Gambia Mali Chad Burkina Faso Guinea-Bissau Guinea Benin Côte d'Ivoire Nigeria Ethiopia Togo Sierra Leone Liberia Ghana Central African Republic South Sudan Cameroon Somalia EG Uganda Kenya São Tomé and Príncipe Gabon Congo Republic DR Congo R B Tanzania Seychelles Comoros Mayotte (France) Angola Zambia Malawi Mozambique B=Burundi Zimbabwe Mauritius EG=Equatorial Guinea Namibia Madagascar Botswana L=Lesotho R=Rwanda S S=Swaziland L South Africa
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National Register only
The following countries are not members of any international registration organisation but have functioning national registries, albeit that some do not function very well: Algeria Angola Burundi Democratic Republic of Congo ("DRC") Djibouti Ethiopia Mauritius Nigeria Seychelles South Africa South Sudan Tunisia Zanzibar*
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National Register Only Morocco Algeria Libya Egypt Mauritania Niger
Tunisia Morocco Algeria Libya Western Sahara (Morocco) Egypt Mauritania Niger Sudan Eritrea Senegal Djibouti The Gambia Mali Chad Burkina Faso Guinea-Bissau Guinea Benin Côte d'Ivoire Nigeria Ethiopia Togo Sierra Leone Liberia Ghana Central African Republic South Sudan Cameroon Somalia EG Uganda Kenya São Tomé and Príncipe Gabon Congo Republic DR Congo R B Tanzania Seychelles Comoros Mayotte (France) Angola Zambia Malawi Mozambique B=Burundi Zimbabwe Mauritius EG=Equatorial Guinea Namibia Madagascar Botswana L=Lesotho R=Rwanda S S=Swaziland L South Africa
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A few interesting Wrinkles
No service marks A number of countries still do not have provision for service marks. These are : Malawi Sierra Leone Uganda Zambia "Tanzania" is not necessarily Tanzania On 26 April, 1964 the two recently independent from the UK Republics of Tanganyika, on the main land and Zanzibar (an island archipelago including the large islands of Pemba and Zanzibar) entered into a Union initially known as the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar which soon became the United Republic of Tanzania later the same year. The two states have considerable autonomy from one another and it is primarily foreign affairs which are dealt with by "Tanzania". One interesting facet is that they have separate IP systems. This is often not appreciated by IP owners and the confusion is compounded by the fact that all documents issued by the mainland registry use the heading "Tanzania" which a number of people, not unreasonably, have taken to mean "Tanzania" (including Zanzibar). The latest "wrinkle" is that "Tanzania" joined ARIPO but this, although a foreign affairs matter, apparently did not include Zanzibar.
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Ethiopia is sui generis.
The only country in Africa not to have a colonial past, apart from a brief period at the outset of World War 2, Ethiopia has not felt itself obliged to follow the general trend to ten year registration. Decree 501/2006 which governs trademarks (correctly one word in Ethiopia) provides for registration for seven years at a time from the date of filing. DUI in Mozambique. OK, I stretched that one for effect, in ought to be "DIU" which is a Declaration of Intention to use. This is also sui generis. Despite Mozambique's membership of Madrid and the nominal life of a trade mark being 10 years, it is a requirement for a mark to remain valid for a DIU to be filed every five years.
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ARIPO OAPI National Register Madrid Members Madrid & ARIPO Madrid &
Tunisia Morocco OAPI Algeria Libya Western Sahara (Morocco) Egypt National Register Mauritania Madrid Members Niger Sudan Eritrea Senegal Djibouti Madrid & ARIPO The Gambia Mali Chad Burkina Faso Guinea-Bissau Guinea Benin Madrid & National Register Côte d'Ivoire Nigeria Ethiopia Togo Sierra Leone Liberia Ghana Central African Republic South Sudan Cameroon Somalia EG Uganda No Effective Trade Mark System Kenya São Tomé and Príncipe Gabon Congo Republic DR Congo R B Tanzania Seychelles Comoros Mayotte (France) Angola Zambia Malawi Mozambique B=Burundi Zimbabwe Mauritius EG=Equatorial Guinea Namibia Madagascar Botswana L=Lesotho R=Rwanda S S=Swaziland L South Africa
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Thank You
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