On May 3, 2021, The Gambia deposited its instrument of Accession to the ARIPO Banjul Protocol on Marks. It will become eligible for designation under the Banjul Protocol for registration and administration of trademarks through the ARIPO regional system on August 3, 2021. With Gambia joining the Protocol, there are now 12 ARIPO Member States who may be designated for trademark protection through ARIPO. They are: Botswana, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), The Gambia, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Sao Tome and Principe, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
The Gambia, situated in West Africa, has been a Member State of ARIPO for over three (3) decades. It deposited its Instrument of Accession to the Harare Protocol on Patents and Industrial Designs on 16 January 1986. The Harare Protocol is successfully operating with 18 of the 20 Member States of ARIPO having acceded to the Protocol. The 18 Member States are: Botswana, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Protocol on Marks was adopted by the Administrative Council of ARIPO at Banjul, the capital city of The Gambia, on November 19, 1993. Hence, it was named the Banjul Protocol on Marks. Despite this early connection to the Protocol on Marks the country had not yet joined the Protocol until recently which indicates a positive recognition by a growing number of Member States of the efficacy of the ARIPO system.
The Gambia joined the Madrid Protocol for the International Registration of Marks administered by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization on September 18, 2015 becoming the 96th member of the Madrid System at the time. The treaty entered into force on 18 December, 2015. Trademark protection in The Gambia can now be obtained at national level through The Gambia IP office, at regional level through ARIPO or at the international level through the Madrid Trademark System.
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