· More than 2,000 products, listed in Register of Trade Marks risk losing their market protection in Kenya following the expiry of their trademark licenses
· In a notice dated June 15, KIPI announced that if no application for renewal of a trademark is received within 30 days, the trademark shall be removed from the Register of Trade Marks
More than 2,000 products, listed in Register of Trade Marks risk losing their market protection in Kenya following the expiry of their trademark licenses. The Kenya Industrial Property Institute (Kipi), the custodian of trademarks in the country stated that it will drop 2,162 products from its register if its owners failed to renew their respective trademark licenses. The list of products includes many global brands like Colgate registered by Colgate-Palmolive; Vaseline by Unilever; Hostess flour by Unga Limited Total Gas and Total Gaz by Total, etc. In a notice dated June 15, KIPI announced that if no application for renewal of a trademark is received within 30 days, the trademark shall be removed from the Register of Trade Marks. John Onyango, the acting managing director at Kipi, clarified that the proprietors of the affected marks have to renew it before July 15. If removed from the list, the firms face the risk of being exposed to counterfeited goods. Registration of a trademark gives a proprietor exclusive ownership and protection from infringers.
The Trademarks Act provides 10 years’ validity of a trademark from the date of application. The registrar is required by law to notify the owner of the trademark of the expiry of the concerned trademark Six months prior to the expiry date. When a trademark is registered with the Kenyan Trade Marks Office, it accords protection in Kenya only. According to the notice many of those trademarks such as Colgate, Vaseline etc, expired years ago.
