Want to register your trademark in in Kenya and protect your Symbol, Word, Design e.t.c from being violated or stolen? We have provided the registration guide below. Trademark registration in Kenya is done by the Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI).
Registration of Trade Marks in Kenya is governed by Cap 506 of the Trade Marks Act. A trade mark is defined to include anything from names, pictures, drawings, monograms, or a combination of any of these. A trademark registration protects one against intellectual property infringement and also prevents third parties from using the registered original work. Here are some guidelines on what is required to register a trademark and the process of registering a trademark in Kenya.
Trademark Registration Requirements in Kenya
If you want to register a trademark in Kenya, you need to satisfy the following requirements:
- Your full names
- Your postal address
- Your proposed trade mark name so a name search approval may be conducted
- Your proposed trade mark description and art work in both hard and soft copies
- Your proposed physical address
- Copies of registration certificates of the business
Process of Trademark Registration
- Trademark Name Search
A search will be conducted to determine whether the trademark can be registered or not and also whether there are any records of a trademark that might be confused with the trademark. A name search application will be conducted by the applicant or their agent using Form TM27.
- Application for a Trademark
When a preliminary search has been approved by the Trade Marks registrar on the form TM2, make sure there are seven representations of the mark. The application should be followed by a form TM 32 to input the address of service in Kenya.
The authorities will scrutinize the documents and the reason for your application to determine whether they are legible for processing the trademark. A secondary search will be performed by the registrar of Trade Marks to make sure there is no mark that closely resembles or is similar on the register of trade marks in Kenya. Finally, the mark and its description will be examined to make sure they are distinct and unique.
NOTE: To download all the form TM27, TM 32, and TM2 mentioned above visit: Trademark Forms.
- Registration of Trademark
After the registrar of trademarks is content that the application is valid, the application will be advertised and featured in the KIPI journal so that interested parties may raise objections to any pending application. The advertisement will remain in this journal for 60 days. If after 60 days no objection is raised, the mark shall be registered.
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