Following the recent enactment of Industrial Property Law No. 050/AN/09, and the establishment of an IP Office (ODPIC), a new scale of official fees has been introduced with effect from 9 June 2012.

On 9th July 2011, the former Sudanese territory corresponding to the states of Bahr el Ghazal, Equatoria and Greater Upper Nile seceded from the Republic of Sudan and became the independent Republic of South Sudan.

The term pro bono has come to be understood as something done as an act of charity or simply "for free" but this is to ignore the full form and meaning of the Latin tag pro bono publico – meaning "for the public good".

The Kingdom of Morocco deposited it’s instrument of acceptance of the termination of the London Act of the Hague Agreement with WIPO on 4 December 2012.

The .xxx top-level domain (TLD) was approved recently and will soon become available to members of the adult entertainment (AE) industry.

Following a comprehensive review of the existing trade mark laws of the British Virgin Islands, we await the publication of the Proclamation in the Government Gazette to implement the new Trade Marks Act, 2013.

The Republic of Rwanda became the 144th PCT Contracting State on 31 May 2011. The PCT will enter into force for Rwanda on 31 August 2011 and Rwanda may be designated in PCT International applications as from this date.

In Africa, the following countries have provisions for the registration of defensive trade marks...

The long awaited implementing Regulations needed to give effect to the 2006 Trademark Registration and Protection Proclamation in Ethiopia have at last been published.

The Supreme Court of Zambia announced that a trade mark application in Zambia may not be opposed on the basis of an earlier, similar, but unregistered trade mark.

We are pleased to report that the Patents and Trade Marks Offices located in the capital, Tripoli, were not damaged during the recent fighting to remove the Gaddafi regime, and that the official records are intact.

In the wake of the debt crisis in Europe, the business world is looking at emerging markets in the developing world with renewed interest.

Tumisang Keitseng, owner of the Zebras trade mark, has threatened the Botswana Football Association as well as its sponsor All Kasi with legal action regarding the continued use of her trade mark on the country’s soccer kit without her consent.

A new, orthodox, trade mark regime for the registration and enforcement of trade mark rights was brought into force by the Proclamation Regulation in Ethiopia.

The Nigerian authorities have for some time been keen to split the Registry of Trademarks, Patents and Designs into separate registries.

A federal court ruled on Friday 29 July 2011 that Microsoft must pay French based telecommunications giant Alcatel-Lucent $70m in a patent infringement claim.

Amidst the ongoing feud between Valor IT and the Department of Trade and Industry, the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission revealed that it is taking steps to revamp its legacy IT systems.

The implementing Regulations for the Trademarks Act (Cap15:23) 2002 came into effect on 1 November 2012.

With effect from 22 August 2011, Rwanda will become a member of ARIPO.

Join us for an insightful panel discussion on the Madrid System and tackling anti-counterfeiting in Africa, hosted by Spoor & Fisher, a leading intellectual property law firm.