Zimbabwe has become a popular destination for trade mark filings likely because it offers proprietors the chance to file national, regional and international trade mark applications through ARIPO and under the Madrid system. The national application is one trade mark application for each class of goods or services through the Zimbabwe Intellectual Property Office (ZIPO). An application must be submitted on Form TM 5 together with the application fee and supporting documents.

Rouse is the first global intellectual property (IP) firm to launch in sub-Saharan Africa after it confirmed a joint venture tie-up with specialist South African IP law firm, Von Seidels. The joint venture will trade as Rouse Africa, and will be headquartered in Cape Town, with an office in Windhoek handling ARIPO work. Von Seidels already boasts a thriving sub-Saharan practice, with a team of locally-qualified lawyers and patent specialists from Cameroon, Nigeria and Kenya w

The Nigerian Registry for Trademarks, Patents and Designs is steadily moving into the digital age. The Intellectual Property Automated System (IPAS) which launched in January 2014 was the first major milestone in the effort to transform the Nigerian IP registration landscape. The IPAS was a leap forward in enhancing the quality of examinations, decisions and services offered to applicants and the general public, giving investors the confidence to invest in Nigeria. At its lau

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has issued a notification that the Gambia has acceded to the Madrid Protocol. According to the notification (which can be accessed here), the Gambian government deposited its instrument of accession with WIPO on 18 September 2015 and the Madrid Protocol will enter into force in the Gambia on 18 December 2015. As such, it will be possible to designate the Gambia in International Registrations from that date. However, we shoul

Global management consulting firm AT Kearney released its second annual African Retail Development Index (ARDI) report in September, with some surprising results. Gabon, a developing country with a population of approximately 1.7 million, a per capita income of about USD 21,000 and about 86% of its population living in urban areas, emerged as the top country due to its exceptional economic growth and accompanying retailing opportunities. Other countries listed in the Index in

Founded in 2007 by Ghanaian entrepreneur, Bright Simons, MPedigree Network (MPedigree) was set-up to provide consumers with the peace of mind that the medication they had bought was the genuine article. In a continent where 100,000 deaths have been attributed to counterfeit drugs it has become very important, very quickly. "GoldKeys", which is the name of the system that MPedigree developed, provides drugs manufacturers with a unique 12 digit code which can be used to label i