IP Rights

One of the requirements in Angola for the registration of any IP right through a legal representative is a power of attorney on behalf of the applicant. In cases where the applicants are foreign persons or entities, this document is even mandatory, as they are required to be represented by a local attorney at law, according to article 67 of the Angolan Industrial Property Law (IP Law).

Additionally, for these applicants, it will be required that the power of attorney will be certified at an Angolan consulate or embassy.

This is a new case of applying to register a sound mark which gained notoriety in the news media and, once again, was rejected owing to the absence of a distinctive character – sound marks are eligible for registration, though not all.

Albeit under different arguments, the General Court of the European Union confirmed the decision by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), which rejected the application by the company Ardagh Metal Beverage Holdings GmbH & Co. KG.

As per Article 139 of Cape Verde’s Trademark Law, a trademark may consist of a “sign or an arrangement of signs capable of being represented graphically, particularly words, including personal names, designs, letters, numerals, sounds, the shape of goods or of their packaging, as long as they are capable of distinguishing the products or services of one company from those of other companies”.

Intellectual property

Changes in São Tomé and Príncipe's trademark regime – including a detailed opposition process - came into force in 2017. Below are the key points of the system, including all the major deadlines.

Refusal grounds

A trademark may be refused in opposition proceedings on the following grounds:

Located in the Horn of Africa with a total area of 1,100,000 square kilometres and approximately 118 million inhabitants, Ethiopia shares borders with Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Somaliland, Kenya, South Sudan and Sudan.

The history of the country dates back 2,000 years. From 1973 to around 2000, Ethiopia was plagued by drought, famine, infectious diseases, internal conflict, war and an unstable economy.

In a globalized world, driven by the information technologies revolution and the service economy, the tangible assets are less and less valuable, while intangible assets, increasingly valuable, are emerging as the key to success, leading the companies to seek how to best use their intangible assets.

Djibouti is one of the smallest countries in Africa. Its strength lies in its location at the southern entrance to the Red Sea and the fact that it is adjacent to some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, acting as a bridge between Africa and the Middle East.

For the past seven years, fashion retailer Truworths has had its eye on the PRIMARK trademark. In 2018 it successfully cancelled Primark Holdings’ UK mark for non-use and in 2019 the company applied for its own version of the mark. Truworths CEO Michael Mark has now announced that it will launch 15 stores in the next few months in an attempt to adapt to changing shopping habits following the covid-19 outbreak.

Background

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.