New Industrial Property Legislation In Botswana

The long awaited Botswana Industrial Property Act no. 8 of 2010 finally came into force on 31 August 2012 following the publication of "Statutory Instrument No 69 of 2012" citing it's commencement date. The same Government Gazette also contained the Industrial Property Regulations of 2012.

The revised legislation has resulted in a number of significant changes to trade mark law. We highlight the most significant changes hereunder. For convenience's sake we shall refer to the new legislation as the "new Act" and to the repealed legislation (the Industrial Property Act, No. 14 of 1996) as the "old Act".

In terms of the old Act, trade mark proprietors lost their rights if trade mark registrations were not renewed within six months of expiry.  Section 88 of the new Act now makes provision for the restoration of lapsed trade mark registrations in that a proprietor may apply within two months, following the six month grace period for the reinstatement of the trade