Adams & Adams

14 April 2025 - Adams & Adams has been recognised as Africa Firm of the Year at the annual Managing Intellectual Property (IP) Awards for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), which took place on 10 April at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London. The firm also received the distinction of South Africa Patent Firm of the Year, with Senior Associate Lisa van Zuydam named South Africa Rising Star of the Year for her growing impact on the IP field.

South Africa is a constitutional democracy, which means that it is a country which observes human rights principles and is governed by the rule of law.

The international trade mark registration system (known as the Madrid system) is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) based in Geneva, Switzerland.  It is considered to be a one-stop solution for the registration and management of trade marks worldwide.  Brand owners from Madrid member countries can file one application, in one language and pay one set of fees to protect a trade mark in up to 114 countries (comprising 80% of world trade – and growing). How effective is Madrid in Africa?

Further to previous updates regarding the .africa domain extension, the launch dates of the various phases have been finalised as follows:

Commentary regarding Trademark aspects in the Mauritius Draft Industrial Property Bill The Mauritius Draft Industrial Property Bill is open for comment. We are in the process of studying the draft, but in the meantime we are able to offer the following initial comments pertaining to Trade Marks in the Bill. This is a Bill which seeks to consolidate all aspects of IP into a single piece of legislation.