Kenya has recently begun an initiative to rid its Trade Mark Register of all unwanted trade mark registrations; in particular, the Registrar has mounted an assault on trade marks which have not been renewed by their respective proprietors in due time.
In pursuit of this initiative, the Kenya Industrial Property Institute published a Special Industrial Property Journal listing some 2000 of these lapsed registrations. In terms of this special journal, the proprietor of a lapsed registration has until 14 July 2020 to have it renewed by paying the prescribed renewal fee together with the late renewal fee. On expiry of the 30-day period, any lapsed registrations which have not been renewed shall be removed from the Register. A proprietor of a lapsed registration which has been removed will, however, still have the opportunity to have their lapsed registration restored.
If a trade mark proprietor finds itself in the position of having already applied and paid for the renewal of a lapsed registration listed in the special journal, a copy of the renewal application together with a copy of the official payment receipt may simply be sent to the Registry with a request for them to have their records updated.
We are reviewing the journal to ensure that none of our clients’ marks have been included in the journal, but please contact us if you need any assistance in this regard.
View this article in World Trademark Review here.
By Michael Schönborn, reviewed by Adré Pretorius, Trademark Attorney