African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO)
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Zambia
Zanzibar
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Trade Mark Services & Trade Mark Lawyers
Patent
Design
Zambia
Forms part of
OAPI
ARIPO
International Arrangements
Zambia is a party to the Paris Convention for Protection of Industrial Property. It is possible to claim priority under the Paris Convention.
Classification
Zambia follows a single class filing system in terms of the international classification but does not recognise service classes.
Registration Procedure
The total time from filing to registration is approximately 18 months. Trade mark applications are examined for compliance with formal and substantive requirements and are published in the official gazette after acceptance. Trade marks may be opposed within 3 months from the date of publication.
Common Law and Well-Known Trade Marks
Well-known trade marks in terms of the Paris Convention are recognised in Zambia.
Duration of Registration, Renewal and Non-Use
Trade mark registrations are valid for 7 years from the date of filing and may be renewed indefinitely for 14-year periods thereafter.
A registered trade mark may be cancelled on action by an interested party if it has not been used for a continuous period of 5 years after the date of registration.
Customs Recordal
Customs recordals are possible.
Forms part of
OAPI
ARIPO
International Arrangements
Paris Convention;
ARIPO (Harare Protocol);
PCT; and
WTO/TRIPS.
Types of Patents
Patents for inventions; and
Patents of addition.
Novelty Requirements
An invention is new if it has not been publicly used, worked, or publicly made known in Zambia, or described in books or other printed publications published anywhere, before the application or priority date.
More specifically the Act provides that an invention is new if it was not –
- known or used in Zambia or the territories of the former Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland by anyone other than the applicant (secret knowledge or use being excluded);
- worked anywhere in the territories by the applicant otherwise than by way of reasonable technical trial or experiment;
- described in a patent specification available to public inspection and with a date less than 50 years prior to the effective date of the application;
- described in writing in any publication of which there was a copy anywhere in the territories, or a publication printed and published elsewhere less than 50 years prior to the effective date of the application; and
- claimed in a complete specification in an application with an earlier effective date.
Grace Period/Prior knowledge
Novelty of an invention is not destroyed by disclosure prior to the application or convention priority date without the patentee's knowledge or consent –
- if the matter disclosed was derived or obtained from the patentee
- if the invention had been used by the patentee or his predecessor in title in
Zambia prior to the application filing date or priority date, for the purpose of reasonable technical trial thereof and the application was filed with reasonable diligence after learning of the disclosure.
Examination procedure
Patent applications are examined as to compliance with formal requirements.
Duration & Maintenance
A patent is valid for 16 years calculated from the filing date.
Renewal fees are payable and are calculated from the first anniversary of filing. A six months grace period is provided for payment of renewal fees, subject to payment of surcharges. If a renewal fee is not paid within this period, the patent lapses.
Working Requirement
Patent must be worked within four years from date of filing or three years from date of grant, whichever period expires last. A compulsory licence may be granted if patent is not worked.
Forms part of
OAPI
ARIPO
International Arrangements
Paris Convention;
ARIPO (Harare Protocol); and
WTO/TRIPS.
Types of Designs
A design is defined to mean features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation applied to an article by any industrial process or means, being features which in the finished article appeal to and are judged solely by the eye, but does not include a method or principle of construction or features of shape or configuration which are dictated solely by the function which the article to be made in that shape or configuration has to perform.
Classification
No provisions.
Novelty Requirements
An application must be filed before the design is published in Zambia. Confidential disclosure of the design by the proprietor does not destroy novelty, nor does disclosure in bad faith by a third party, the first confidential order for goods bearing a textile design, or the communication of the design by the proprietor to any authorised government personnel.
Grace Period/Prior knowledge
No provision
Examination procedure
Design applications are examined as to compliance with formal requirements and may conduct substantive examination in respect of novelty and originality of the design.
Duration & Maintenance
An industrial design endures for an initial period of five years and may be renewed (on application) for two further five-year terms.
Renewal fees are payable before expiration of current term (grace period of three months is available).
Working requirement
Designs must be worked – may be subjected to compulsory licencing if not worked in Zambia.
