One of the major talking points at last years INTA Building Africa with Brands conference held in Cape Town, South Africa was Madrid in Africa – The benefits and risks of filing through the system and whether it is enforceable in all African member states? Despite lack of a great deal of examples of their enforceability in African member states, International Registrations (IRs) applications continue to be be filed in African member states with the figures steadily increasing. The following filing statistics for the period 2008-2015 were issued by WIPO (the World Intellectual Property Organisation): Table 1: Number of applications for International Registrations filed through African member
The trade mark office in Mozambique has recently made it a requirement for rights holders, holding International Registrations (IR) designating Mozambique, to file further declarations of intention to use the trade mark in Mozambique. As part of the IR regime, the owner of or applicant for an IR by designating Mozambique must declare an intention to use the mark in Mozambique in connection with the goods and services identified in the international application or subsequent designation. The new rule now sets out the holder must submit a further declaration of intention to use the mark at the Trade Mark Office of Mozambique and pay the required fee. Such declaration must be submitted by the h
