Trademarks

Between 7 and 15 of January, the Angolan Institute of Industrial Property (IAPI) will move to new facilities at Largo 17 de Setembro, palácio de Vidro, 4th floor, left wing - Marginal (Ministry of Industry and Commerce). During this period the IAPI is closed, intending to resume activity on the 18th of January in the new facilities.

The Intellectual Property Department of the Economy Services Directorate of Macau, SAR, announced through Administrative Regulation No. 45/2020, published in the Official Gazette of the Macau Special Administrative Region No. 52, Series I, of December 28, 2020, the change of its official name to Economic and Technological Development Bureau.

The Somalia Trademarks Office resumed operations at the end of 2019, when the Ministry of Commerce and Industry issued Ministerial Decree 1/2019, stipulating that trademark registrations are once again permitted. The decree is based on Somali Trademark Law 3 (1955), as amended by Law 33 (1975) and Law 3 (1987).

Only single-class applications are being accepted by the office. Further, a trademark is valid for 10 years from the filing date of the application and may be renewed indefinitely every 10 years.

Angola is a lusophone country on the west coast of Africa. Over the past two decades, it has piqued the interest of big brands and multinationals as a lucrative destination for investment. Many companies have preventively filed their trademarks there in order to market their products or services safely in the future. Further, it is common to find several applications for well-known trademarks on behalf of national companies or people in the national trademark bulletin – these tend to generate many oppositions.

The city of Nanchang hosted the 12th China Trademark Festival, an event dedicated to national and international Intellectual Property (IP) strategy, mainly regarding chinese trademarks and brands.

From December 5 to December 7, 2020, Inventa International joined the festival, represented by Crystal Zhang, with the purpose to exchange some ideas regarding protection of IP rights and internationalization of chinese brands.

The Africa Regional Intellectual Property Office (ARIPO) has announced the appointment of new director general Bemanya Twebaze. The announcement was made during the 44th and last administrative council session, which was held in Zimbabwe between 16 and 20 November.

Twebaze was previously the CEO of the Uganda Registration Services Bureau. He is due to take office on 1 January 2021 for a four-year term and replaces Fernando dos Santos, who served ARIPO for eight consecutive years.

Trademark infringement in Africa is one of the reasons why various stakeholders avoid seeking protection there, as it is believed that the trademark registration systems of certain countries are not as effective as those of more developed countries. This is one of many misconceptions about intellectual property in Africa. Some countries on the continent – whose legislation does not provide for a formal recordal of trademarks before a customs authority – offer the possibility of requesting an informal registration.

Egypt

The current European Union (EU) Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on the European Union trade mark) on EU trademarks entered into force on the 1st of October, 2017. One of the major modifications introduced by that Regulation was the elimination of the graphical representation requirement of trademarks. This requirement was held responsible for being an obstacle to the registration of non-traditional trademarks.

Trademark application numbers can reveal a great deal about a country. This article takes a closer look at the trademark databases of the African Intellectual Property Organisation (OAPI), Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique and South Africa to reveal how the alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages sector varies among African jurisdictions. But before presenting the data, it is important to note that most databases are not public and because of this, the following information may contain some inaccurate statistics.

It is also worth noting that there are two classes for beverages:

The 2020 Global Innovation Index (GII) was released in September. The study was authored by WIPO, Cornell University and INSEAD and focused on innovation financing, against the backdrop of the economic impact of the covid-19 pandemic. This article focuses on how African countries performed, using trademark-related information as an indicator.

Africa at a glance