São Tomé and Principe - 10th Contracting Party to the Banjul Protocol

Sao Tome acceded to the Banjul Protocol on 27 November 2015. It will become a contracting state and eligible for designation as of 27 February 2016. This accession brings the number of member states party to the Banjul Protocol to 10.

The Banjul Protocol establishes a centralised trade mark registration process for English speaking African countries who are members of the African Regional Industrial Property Organisation (ARIPO).

It is worth noting that of the 9 (now 10) ARIPO member states only Botswana, Liberia and Zimbabwe have amended their Trade Marks Acts to make specific provision for the recognition of rights flowing from ARIPO registrations and are therefore the only member states in which an ARIPO trade mark registration may be enforceable.

We hope that Sao Tao, following the submission of their accession documents to the Protoc0l, makes steps to domesticate the same.

For more information, kindly Contact Claire Brown