Mozambique joins the Banjul Protocol (ARIPO System for Trademark Registration)

The government of Mozambique deposited its instrument of Accession to the Banjul Protocol on the 15th of May 2020 and will effectively become a member of ARIPO’s protocol for trademarks on August 15, 2020. It will, therefore, be possible to designate Mozambique in an ARIPO application filed from that date.

This accession brings the number of Member States party to the Protocol to eleven (11), following Botswana, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, Eswatini (Swaziland), Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and São Tomé and Príncipe (the last one to join, on 2016).

The Banjul Protocol establishes a centralized filing system in all applications for the registration of a trademark. Thus, trademarks can be filed either directly with the ARIPO office or through the Industrial Property Office of a member representing the applicant.