South Africa

The international trade mark registration system (known as the Madrid system) is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) based in Geneva, Switzerland.  It is considered to be a one-stop solution for the registration and management of trade marks worldwide.  Brand owners from Madrid member countries can file one application, in one language and pay one set of fees to protect a trade mark in up to 114 countries (comprising 80% of world trade – and growing). How effective is Madrid in Africa?

Further to previous updates regarding the .africa domain extension, the launch dates of the various phases have been finalised as follows:

Commentary regarding Trademark aspects in the Mauritius Draft Industrial Property Bill The Mauritius Draft Industrial Property Bill is open for comment. We are in the process of studying the draft, but in the meantime we are able to offer the following initial comments pertaining to Trade Marks in the Bill. This is a Bill which seeks to consolidate all aspects of IP into a single piece of legislation.