– Banjul Protocol on Marks, adopted in Banjul, Gambia, November 19, 1993, as amended from time to time.
– Regulations for Implementing the Banjul Protocol, adopted at Kariba, Zimbabwe, on November 24, 1995, as amended from time to time.
– The following are contracting States to the Banjul Protocol: Botswana, Cabo Verde (since October 14, 2022), Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Gambia, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, São Tomé and Princípe, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
– Of these only Botswana, Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe, have original or amended national legislation which recognizes trademark rights arising out of an ARIPO registration in terms of the Banjul Protocol - in the case of Liberia there is pending legislation but it is not yet in force. Whilst in practice the Industrial Property Offices of the other Banjul member States recognize ARIPO trademarks to some extent, the extent to which their effectiveness on national territory is recognized by the Courts must be doubtful.

– Paris Convention. All contracting States, with the exception of Somalia, are also members of the Paris Convention.

Applicant: anyone.

Foreigners and nationals not living in a member country: must appoint a representative residing in a member State who is authorized to practice before the domestic Office of that State.

Trademarks of foreigners: no special conditions.

Defensive marks: not provided for.

Certification (collective) marks: not provided for.

Marks for services: provided for.

Associated marks: as required by the domestic law.

Series marks: provided for.

Novelty: determined according to the domestic law in each State.

Not registrable: determined according to the domestic law in each State.

Classification: International Classification (Nice as amended) of 45 classes for goods and services.

Multi-class applications: provided for; small additional fee for each additional class (number unlimited).

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Power of attorney, simply signed (on special form ARIPO M.2); may be late lodged up to two months after ARIPO filing date;
2. 10 printed specimens if the mark is other than plain lettering. If a claim to colors is made, then the accompanying specimens must also be in color;
3. If Convention priority if claimed, a certified true copy, together with a verified English translation if appropriate, must be supplied within three months of the filing date with ARIPO;
4. The application shall contain a declaration of actual use of the mark, or intention to use the mark, or be accompanied by an application for the registration of a person as a registered user of the mark; provided that where there is an application for a registered user the Director General of the Office is satisfied that: (i) the applicant intends it to be used by that person in relation to those goods or services; and (ii) that person shall be registered as a registered user thereof immediately after registration of the mark.

Electronic filing: available. 

Electronic signatures: are accepted. Scanned copies of signed documents are also accepted, however, the original must follow at a later date.

On initial filing, either direct with the ARIPO Office or with the Industrial Property Office of a Contracting State, an examination will be made as to formalities only. If the application is found to be formally defective, the applicant will be invited to correct the application within a period of two weeks before it proceeds. Once the application is formally correct, or if it was such from the start, the receiving Office will allocate a date of filing whereafter the application shall, if it was filed with an Office other than the ARIPO Office, be forwarded to ARIPO who will allocate an application number. Note that in the case of a subsequent designation of a country the filing date will be deemed to be the date of the initial application, the date of the subsequent designation will be the date on which the application is received by the ARIPO Office, and the period of protection will expire on the same date as the initial registration.

Amendment of application: permitted by the Regulations.

Examination: to be conducted by the respective National Office of each designated State as to anteriorities and compliance with local laws and practices. Any objection must be conveyed to the ARIPO Office within twelve months of transmittal of the application by ARIPO to the Offices of the designated States. If an objection is raised, ARIPO will forward the objection to the applicant via the agent and thereafter the applicant will continue dealing with the ARIPO Office. (Comment: the practicality of this arrangement is doubtful since an agent in one Contracting State is not automatically recognized to practice before all of the National Offices, indeed, the appointed agent may have no working knowledge of the national procedures and the only way to deal with this situation would be to appoint or subcontract the services of a local practitioner thereby effectively nullifying any perceived advantages of a central filing and prosecution as envisaged by the Banjul Protocol.) If the objection can be overcome at national level, then the ARIPO Office will continue the granting procedure upon being so notified. If no objection is received within those twelve months, ARIPO shall grant the registration and it shall be deemed, in terms of Section 6:3 of the Protocol, to have full effect in each country that did not raise an objection.

Prior user rights: under the national laws of most Contracting States, common law rights accrue by use of an unregistered mark. In general, the earliest use in a jurisdiction will afford the stronger legal right to the mark. As it is virtually impossible to conduct prior-user investigations, none of the National Offices will cite such rights, however, there is always the very real possibility that an applicant will encounter such rights during the opposition term and even thereafter.

Opposition: an opposition can be filed by an interested person within three months of publication in the journal and before registration. The opposition must be filed with the ARIPO Office and copied to the relevant national office but the matter is treated as an opposition in terms of the procedures of the relevant State.

Letters of consent: acceptable/not acceptable according to prevailing national practice in each designated State.

Application kept secret: no provision.

Appeal: the applicant is afforded a period of three months after receipt of a final rejection by the ARIPO Office within which to lodge an appeal to the Board of Appeal. There is also the option to convert from an ARIPO application to a purely national application if so desired and to pursue all avenues of appeal at national level.

Urgent registration: applications are processed in order of filing.

Provisional registration: no provision.

Correction of application/registration: possible.

Delivery of document: within approximately six weeks after expiry of the three-month opposition term.

Beginning of protection: from the date of filing of the application.

Kind of property: “Bundle” of National Industrial Property rights.

Duration – extension: notwithstanding the requirements of the domestic laws of nominated States, the Protocol appears to override domestic laws and provides for an initial term of ten years from the date of filing (or priority date, if appropriate) and renewable for further periods of ten years.

Renewal: every ten years. Renewal is done centrally via the ARIPO Office and may be effected at any time in the last twelve months of validity.

Latest term for renewal: upon payment of a late fine plus additional surcharge for each month or part of a month past the renewal date, up to a maximum of six months after the due date.

Compulsory character of registration: registration is not compulsory.

Obligation to use: determined on a purely national basis -in most contracting countries, within five years of registration and thereafter, a lapse in use of five years or longer renders a registration vulnerable to removal by any aggrieved party.

Marking: not compulsory but highly recommended.

Text of marking: “Registered Trade Mark” or ®.

Modification of the mark: possible.

Changes in the list of goods/services: only by way of restriction.

Licenses: are permitted. Careful attention should be paid to national laws regarding recordal of licenses – in most jurisdictions, recordal is desirable as a safeguard against attacks based on non-use by the proprietor. In such circumstances, use made by a licensee may only be relied upon if the license was recorded.

Assignment: possible, with or without goodwill.

Re-filing of identical trademarks: it is probable that in certain circumstances, this is possible, however, one must look to the individual national laws to determine in which jurisdictions and under which circumstances this is permitted.

Rights of prior user: the proprietor or registered user of a mark may restrain the use by any person or organization of a trademark identical with or confusingly similar to it.

Opposition to registered marks: under the domestic laws of any Contracting State as appropriate.

Compulsory licenses: not provided for, but may be possible under domestic laws.

Expropriation: under the respective domestic laws as applicable.

Validation of marks: under the domestic laws.

Provision for restoration: provided for before ARIPO for marks lapsed due to non-renewal; there is a six-month grace period for restoration, on payment of the restoration fee, unpaid renewal fee and a surcharge.

Registration of invalidated marks: not provided for.

Infringement and penalties: as provided for under the domestic laws of each designated State.