Africa: The Gambia set to join the Banjul Protocol on Marks

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Africa: The Gambia set to join the Banjul Protocol on Marks

Sponsored by

spoor-fisher-400px.png
dan-roizer-gygpfmxgd1o-unsplash.jpg

Matthew Costard of Spoor & Fisher explains why the Gambia’s ‘British law’ legacy is a cause of concern for ARIPO trademarks

The African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) is one of Africa’s two regional IP registration systems. ARIPO enables IP owners to get protection for their rights in one or more member countries through a central filing together with a designation of the countries of interest. This is in contrast to the African Intellectual Property Organisation (OAPI), which involves a single filing that automatically covers all the member countries.

The treaty that regulates ARIPO trademarks is the Banjul Protocol on Marks. Eleven countries can be covered through an ARIPO trademark registration (Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe).

On May 4 2021, ARIPO announced that the Gambia will be the 12th trademark member country, and will join the Banjul Protocol on Marks with effect from August 3 2021. What this means is that as of August 3 2021, trademark owners will be able to designate the Gambia in an ARIPO trademark application.

Yet trademark owners should be wary. The Gambia is what is sometimes known as a ‘British law country’. The effect of this is that international treaties do not become part of the Gambian law until such time as they are specifically enacted in local legislation. The Banjul Protocol on Marks has not been incorporated in any legislation in the Gambia, and this means that any designation of the Gambia in an ARIPO trademark application will have no effect. Purported trademark registrations will be open to attack.

It is worth noting that there is a draft law in the Gambia that does incorporate the Banjul Protocol into the Gambian law (An Act to Repeal The Industrial Property Act 2007, see Section 61(13)). It is not known when this will come into effect, although local sources are hopeful that the bill will be tabled at the next sitting of the National Assembly and that it will be enacted before August 3 2021. Until such a time when the draft law is in force, the safest course for trademark owners will be to use the national trademark system.

 

Matthew CostardDirector, Spoor & FisherE: m.costard@spoor.co.uk  

 

 

more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

A group of five lawyers who joined Cleary Gottlieb say they want to help expand the firm’s IP litigation practice
As we build up to another busy year for the IP STARS rankings and our Managing IP Awards, we assess some of the major IP firms and trends in Germany
Florina Firaru discusses making new connections, the art of flower arranging, and the biggest misconception about IP
The firm, which appointed three IP partners from A&O Shearman, wants to develop a tier one practice in Europe
The England and Wales appeals court handed down its judgment just seven working days after hearing the trademark dispute involving pharma company Merck
A host of law firms from across Europe and beyond helped bring the streaming technology dispute to a close
Hugues Derème, director general of the Benelux IP Office, unveils his vision for the region, how to improve IP awareness, and use of AI
A copyright win for AI firm Anthropic and a new executive order against law firm Jenner & Block were also among the top talking points this week
A principal at Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner explains how AI tools, including DeepIP, can position the firm to help clients
The firm explains why AI-empowered data analytics could make it a more efficient advocate for its clients
Gift this article