Register a Trademark

Advantages to Register a Trademark in South Africa:

1. Protection: It is a source of exclusivity. Registering a Trade Mark is the best, safest, quickest and most cost effective way to ensure legal exclusivity for the use of your company name, slogan or logo etc. No one else will be able to use your brand or a brand name confusingly similar.

2. Company value: Your business value will increase as a Trade Mark is one of the most important assets a Company can have.  Any potential purchaser of your business will be willing to pay more for the goodwill that you have built up under your Trade Marked Brand. A registered trade mark is a capital asset, which may be valued, licensed or offered as security. After licensing a Trade Mark you can then govern the use of a registered Trade Mark to manufacturers, distributors or franchisees and claim royalties in return.

3. Premium price: A Trade Mark is a badge of quality in relation to price. People will know that goods or services bearing the same Trade Mark will be of consistent and expected quality. Thus, your clients will also be willing to pay a certain premium as a Trade Mark creates trust and loyalty.

a) Examination of the Trademark
The Trade Marks Office examines the application in order to ascertain that all the application requirements were adhered to. The examination also involves ascertaining whether the Trade Mark applied for is confusingly similar to an applied for or registered Trademark on the register.

b) Subsequent to examination
The Trade Marks Office accepts the application outright, or requires certain conditions to be met or may refuse the application. The Trade Mark applicant may then accordingly amend the application or make representations to the Trade Marks Office.

c) Advertisement
Once the application has been accepted by the Trade Marks Office, the applicant needs to advertise the acceptance of the application the Trademark Journal. The application is open to opposition by any interested parties for a prescribed period of 3 months.

d) Trademark Registration in South Africa
Once the application has been accepted, advertised and not been opposed. The Trade Marks Office registers the Trademark and provides the applicant with a certificate of registration.

Dangers of not having a Trademark in South Africa

• You will not have any registered legal exclusivity to your name, slogan or logo etc.
• You will not have a statutory action available against anyone who uses a same or similar mark on similar or identical goods or services in South Africa.
• If your Trademark is registered in SA, it serves as prima facie proof of the validity of the Trade Mark and title to the mark.

You can file your trademark application with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC).

This process involves confirmation that there are no other trademarks on the CIPC database. Once this is confirmed your application can be submitted to the CIPC.

For in-depth guidance on trademark registration, visit the CIPC website or the government’s service page.

A registered trademark in South Africa is valid for ten (10) years from the application date. However, you can renew it indefinitely for subsequent ten-year periods.

You can use the ™ symbol with your mark to indicate you’re claiming it as a trademark. Once your trademark is registered, you can switch to the ® symbol, which signifies “registered” and publicly announces your registration.