This archive report was first published on 18 June 2020.
On June 18, 2020, Kenya's Industrial Property Institute (KIPI) issued a special notice to remove over 2000 trademarks from the register of Trade Marks, citing expiration and failure to renew within 30 days.
According to Section 23 of the Trade Act, registration of a trademark in Kenya expires after a period of ten years. The Act allows the proprietor of a registered trademark to make an application for renewal of the trademark.
Rule 65 of the Trade Mark Rules requires the Registrar of Trade Marks to notify the proprietor of a registered trade mark when no application for renewal is received upon expiry of the ten year period. Rule 67 of the Trade Mark Rules further requires the Registrar to publish this fact if no application for renewal is received within 60 days from the date of the notice.
As a result, KIPI has notified the proprietors of the over 2000 trade marks but failed to file applications for renewal of their respective trademarks.
Proprietors of the affected trademarks have two options:
- If they make an application for renewal of a mark that has been published and pay the renewal fee together with the additional prescribed late renewal fee within 30 days from the date of this publication, the trade mark shall be renewed and shall not be removed from the Register of Trade Marks.
- If no application for renewal of a trade mark published herein is received within 30 days from the date of this publication, the trade mark shall be forthwith removed from the Register of Trade Marks.
- Once the trade mark is removed from the Register of Trade Marks, the proprietor may thereafter make an application for renewal of the mark upon payment of the prescribed renewal fee together with the additional prescribed restoration fee. The trade mark shall then be restored to the Register of Trade Marks.
Some of the affected trademarks are listed here.
