Enforcement

When CultureTree's tweet and hashtag #Yorubaisnotforsale went viral, it ignited an online debate about whether registering a trademark name for an ethnic group is cultural appropriation.

The Yoruba people – who live mainly in Benin, Nigeria and Togo – represent around 35 million people in Africa, making them one of the largest ethnic groups on the continent. Most are from Nigeria, where they represent up to 15.5% of the country’s population.

Introduction

By the end of 2019, humanity was confronted by a new infectious disease caused by a new coronavirus, the covid-19 that led, on March 11th, 2020 the Word Health Organization (WHO) to declare the state of a global pandemic.

In June 2021, the Casablanca Commercial Court invalidated the Moroccan businessman Mohamed Zehraoui’s claim to use the word “Habanos”, which belongs to the Cuban Habanos Corporation, on cigars manufactured in Morocco.

It all started in 2011 when the entrepreneur registered the company name Habanos SA in the Casablanca Commercial Register, taking advantage of the fact that the Cuban corporation of the same name had not registered the brand in Morocco.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic which effectively put much of life on hold, Nigeria enjoyed an extremely productive 2020 with respect to copyright law reforms and court decisions.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Industrial Property Law has been in force since 1982. Article 5 stipulates that there are three kinds of patent:

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) came into effect on January 1, 2021 and is the largest trade area in the world by number of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The objectives outlined in article 3 of the treaty include the establishment of a common market for products and services, a regional customs authority, enhancing the competitiveness of member states’ economies both in Africa and globally, and promoting industrial development.

Every year, since the year 2000, World Intellectual Property Day is celebrated on April 26. Every year, the World Intellectual Property Organization chooses a theme for this celebration. In 2021, the chosen theme was the importance of intellectual property (IP) for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), when they bring their ideas to the market.

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

Trademark owners have exclusive rights to exploit their protected goods and/or services, which prevent others from using equal or similar distinctive signs in the jurisdiction in which their rights are valid. In some cases, trademark owners adopt defensive strategies and file trademark applications in classes that are not directly related to their business in order to obtain the widest scope of protection and prevent third parties from filing similar marks that could dilute theirs.

The Madrid Union is based on the Madrid Protocol 1989, which allows applicants to directly file trademarks in several countries with a single application and set of fees, through a centralised bureau that forwards them office actions. This cost-effective system can circumvent the need to directly file trademarks in national and regional offices, resulting in greater cost savings for applicants.

Regional reach