Malawi's new Trademarks Act No 2 of 2018 ("the New
Act") came into operation on 1 October
2018. The New Act introduces protection and
registration for, inter alia service marks,
collective marks and geographical indications. In addition, it
includes an expanded definition of "trademark" to include
"non-visual marks" and "serve marks".
"Serve marks" are presumably meant to refer
to service marks. This is borne out by Section 7 of
the New Act, which states that the application for registration
must contain, inter alia, "the goods
or services for which registration is
related". This contrasts with Section 8 of the
Current Act, which only provides for the registration of a trade
mark in relation to goods.
