Trademark Registration may be submitted to the CIPC offices in Pretoria, South Africa. If you would like to register your trademark, you should first establish that the mark has not been previously registered in South Africa. Although it usually takes up to 18 months for registration to be complete, you may start using the trademarks as soon as the forms have been submitted. A trademark Attorney or an Intellectual Property practitioner may carry out trademark applications on your behalf.
Examples of Trade Marks:
Name, Slogan, Logo, Shapes, Three-dimensional Marks, Colors, Holograms, Motions / Multimedia, Positions, Gestures, Olfactory (smells / scents), Sounds / Tunes, Tastes, Textures.
Why should I Register a Trade Mark?
You are in the process of building the reputation of your product/service. However, competitors may try to imitate your product if it is a commercial success. To ensure that the buying public does not confuse your goods or services with those of your competitors, registering a trade mark is a cost-effective way of protecting your name and reputation.
Trade Mark Duration
Once a Trade Mark is registered in South Africa, it needs to be renewed every 10 years to stay in force. However, provided you continue renewing your trade mark registration in South Africa, your rights to the trade mark may last indefinitely. A registered trade mark can be protected forever, provided it is renewed every 10 years upon payment of the prescribed renewal fee. If your registered trade mark has not been used in South Africa for a continuous period of 5 years, another person may apply to have it removed from the Register.