Valsen Corporate

Kenya Trademark Registration

Kenya Trademark Registration
A trademark is a mark or sign that distinguishes the goods of one entity from another. The trademark may consist of one or more distinctive word, letter, numbers, drawings, pictures, signatures, colours or a combination of all these. Service Mark is a sign which serves to distinguish services of one entity from another. It may consist of the same characteristics as those of a Trade Mark. Trademarks in Kenya are regulated by the Trade Mark Act (Cap 506) Laws of Kenya. The institution charged with the mandate to register trademarks is the Kenya Industrial Property Institute (hereinafter “KIPI”).
 
Kenya Trademark Key Features

  1. Any individual, company, partnership or society can register a Trademark as long as they meet the necessary requirements.
  2. It helps distinguish your products from that of other competitors.
  3. Registration of your Trade Mark gives you the exclusive right to that mark, it is evidence that the mark is yours and it affords you legal rights against others who may want to infringe your right to that mark.
  4. The process of registration also involves extensive searches to ensure that your mark does not resemble any existing Trademarks and as such helps you avoid being sued for infringing on other peoples Trademark.

 
How to register a Trademark in Kenya.

  1. The name of a company, individual or firm making the application.
  2. The signature or seal of the applicant for registration or some predecessor in his business.
  3. An invented word or invented words; A word or words having no direct reference to the character or quality of the goods, and not being according to its ordinary signification a geographical name or a surname.
  4. Any other distinctive mark.

 
Process of Registration
The process of registration of trade marks undergoes the following stages:

  1. Preliminary Search;
  2. Application for Registration;
  3. Examination;
  4. Advertisement;
  5. Opposition;

 
Kenya Trademark Distinctive Advantages

  1. The “TM” and “SM” can be used to claim the ownership of a product or service even without registration to the USPTO.
  2. Trademark Registration will help the owner protect their mark from being used by competitors, even when that is a similar mark to the mark registered.
  3. It will have exclusive right to use it nationwide and for all the products that are listed in the registration.