– Trade Marks Act, Cap. 244 of the laws of Sierra Leone, 1960.
– Merchandise Marks Act, Cap. 245of the laws of Sierra Leone, 1960.
– Trade Mark Rules P.N. No. 97 of 1952, reproduced in Volume VIII of the laws of Sierra Leone, 1960.

Note: a new Act, Trade Marks Act No. 8 of 2014 was signed and published in September 2014, however, no implementing regulations were ever promulgated, which technically means the new law is not in force. The Registrar, however, announced that the new Act was to be applied from January 15, 2018.

– Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), since May 18, 1986.
– WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, since July 23, 1995.
– Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Stockholm Act, since June 17, 1997.
– Madrid Agreement for the International Registration of Marks, since June 17, 1997.
– Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, since December 28, 1999.

Applicant: any person claiming to be the proprietor of a trademark. Application for registration and all other communications between the applicant and the Registrar may be made by or through an agent who shall not be qualified to act as such agent unless he is a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of Sierra Leone. Where the application is made by a body corporate on its own behalf the application may be signed by the secretary or other principal officer of the body corporate. Applications must be made in the prescribed form and must be accompanied by not less than three representations of the trademark and a block.

Foreigners and nationals not living in the country: must furnish address for service at the time of making the application.

Trademarks of foreigners: protected in the same manner as those of nationals.

Kinds of protection: ordinary trademarks; colored marks; associated marks; standardization marks.

Service marks: provided for.

Novelty: a trademark applied for must not resemble a trademark already registered.

Not registrable: scandalous designs; any mark, the use of which would, by reason of its being likely to deceive or cause confusion, etc., be deemed disentitled to protection in a court of justice or which would be contrary to the law or morality.

Collective (certification) marks: are provided for. A certification mark is a mark adapted to distinguish, in the course of trade, goods certified in respect or origin, material, mode of manufacture, quality, accuracy or other characteristic from goods not so certified.

Priorities: a proprietor of a British registration may at any time during the existence of that registration, file in Sierra Leone an application based on his British registration and is granted the same rights mutatis mutandis as in Great Britain. The British proprietor may claim priority according to the date of the British registration.

Classification: international (Nice Agreement). A separate application must be filed for each class.

Territory covered: the whole of the present territory of Sierra Leone.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Name and address of applicant;
2. Power of attorney, no legalization;
3. List of goods;
4. Printing block and 6 prints;
5. A certified copy of the British registration if the mark relates to cotton goods falling in classes 23, 24 and 25.

Amendment of application: is provided for.

Examination: there is an examination as to registrability.

Opposition: must be filed within three months of the date of advertisement, though extensions to this period can be obtained but must not exceed nine months in all. The grounds for opposition are more or less the same as those in “Ghana”.

Disputes about ownership: Section 22 reads: “Where each of several persons claims to be the proprietor of the same trademark, or of nearly identical trademarks, in respect of the same goods or description of goods, and wishes to be registered as such a proprietor, the Registrar may refuse to register any of them until their rights have been determined by the court or have been settled by agreement in a manner approved by him”.

Urgent registration: not provided for.

Publication: after acceptance, in the Supplement of the Sierra Leone Gazette.

Correction of registration: possible.

Delivery of document: official action is taken by the Registrar approximately eighteen months after the date of filing and the certificate of registration is issued approximately six months after the advertisement of the acceptance notice in the Gazette.

Beginning of protection: as from the date of filing.

Duration – extension: for trademarks filed after January 15, 2018: ten years and renewable for further periods of ten years; for trademarks filed before January 15, 2018: fourteen years and renewable for periods of ten years but those based on British registrations take the same term as the British trademark.

Compulsory character of registration: not provided for.

Obligation to use: a mark may be removed from the Register on the grounds of non-use for a period of five years.

Marking of registered goods: not required, but advisable.

Text of marking: “Registered Trade Mark”.

Renewal: possible any time before the expiration of the trademark.

Latest term for renewal: the day of expiration.

Term of grace for renewal: an extension may be obtained for payment of a renewal fee.

Modification of mark: possible, if not substantially affecting the identity of the mark.

Changes in the list of goods: possible, but the specification of the goods may not be enlarged.

Assignment: is provided for but only with the goodwill of the business concerned.

Licenses: Section 63 of the Act reads: “Any person entered in the United Kingdom Register of Trade Marks as a registered user, in respect of any goods, of a trademark whose certificate of registration under this Ordinance is in force, may apply to be registered in Sierra Leone as a registered user of the trademark in respect of some or all of such goods, subject to any conditions or restrictions entered in the United Kingdom Register”.

Opposition to registration: any person may, within three months, or such further time as the Registrar may allow, not exceeding nine months in all, give notice to the Registrar of his opposition to the registration in writing and in duplicate and shall include a statement of the grounds of opposition.

Compulsory licenses: not provided for.

Expropriation and nullification: a mark may be removed on the grounds of non-use.

Validation of invalidated marks: not provided for.

Provision for restoration: a mark removed on the grounds of non-payment of renewal fees may be restored, if good reason for non-payment can be shown to the satisfaction of the Registrar.

Infringement and penalties: Section 44 reads: “No person shall be entitled to institute any proceedings to prevent, or to recover damages for the infringement of an unregistered trademark, unless such a trademark has been in use for not less than three years prior to the commencement of such proceedings and has been refused registration under this Ordinance”.