Trade Marks In Africa: Mozambique Joins ARIPO

• Published date: 06 June 2020
• Subject Matter: Intellectual Property, Patent, Trademark
• Law Firm: ENSafrica
• Author: Ms Ilse Du Plessis

The big news in African IP has been the announcement that Mozambique will be joining the ARIPO system for trade marks (it has been a member of the system for patents for some time). Although the announcement was made on 15 May 2020, the development will only come into effect on 15 August 2020. For the benefit of those who are not that familiar with African IP, some background follows.

Background

Africa comprises more than 50 independent states. Although it is possible to get national IP rights in many African countries, a particular feature of African IP is the fact that it has two regional IP registration systems. These systems are Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (African Intellectual Property Organisation ("OAPI") and the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation ("ARIPO") and they are quite different.

OAPI applies in what are primarily French-speaking countries and it covers a wide spectrum of IP rights including patents, trade mark and designs. OAPI could be described as a single-registration system, which means that an IP owner gets protection in all the OAPI member countries through a single application that's filed at the OAPI head office, situated in Cameroon. OAPI member countries are Benin, Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger Senegal, Togo and the Union of the Comoros.

ARIPO primarily applies in English-speaking countries and it also covers a wide spectrum of IP rights. Whereas OAPI is a system that allows a company to get a single registration covering all the member countries, ARIPO is a system that allows an IP owner to get registration in some or all of the member countries through designation.

ARIPO trade mark member countries are Botswana, Eswatini (Swaziland), Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia S'o Tomé and Príncipe, Uganda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

ARIPO patent member countries are Botswana, Eswatini (Swaziland), Gambia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique Namibia, Rwanda, S'o Tomé and Príncipe,...