IP West Africa – Protection, Infringement and Counterfeiting Watch

Intellectual Property (IP) encompasses creations of the mind, including inventions, literary and artistic works,designs, and symbols, names, and images used in commerce.

The Madrid System/Protocol is an internationally recognized system through which trademarks are registered, managed and protected across multiple jurisdictions simultaneously through a single application in the same language, and administered by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). The system currently makes this possible in 128 countries around the world3. For an applicant to qualify under the Madrid system, they must first be a national of a member country to the protocol; be resident in one of the member countries; and have a commercial establishment domiciled in one of the member countries. While the simultaneous registration, management and protection of a trademark across multiple jurisdictions sounds appealing, African countries have not been able to leverage the system in their favour. Currently there are 38 African countries that are member states to the Madrid Protocol, however, the Protocol is only enforceable in 9 of these countries, and only 2 of these countries, namely Ghana and Gambia, are in West Africa.