Our department:
- advises both local and international clients as to the general protection of intellectual property rights,
- collaborates with a variety of international IP practitioners in relation to the registration of IP rights regionally and internationally, and
- maintains a close relationship with the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) whose office is in Harare.
Three of our Practitioners are active members of the ARIPO Working Group on the Improvement of the ARIPO Protocols.
In addition, our department also has active members of the Zimbabwe Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Agents (ZIPTA). A member of our department Dorothy Pasipanodya is presently serving as President of ZIPTA in the year 2020-2021
The Intellectual Property Department comprises of the following practice areas:
Trade Marks
We handle national, ARIPO and Madrid trade mark filings, prosecutions, oppositions, renewals and general maintenance. Included amongst our services are the following:
- registrability and availability searches
- national and Convention Trade Mark registrations
- ARIPO (Regional) Trade Mark registrations, in terms of the Banjul Protocol on Marks to which there are currently 11 signatories, namely: Botswana, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Sào Tome & Prìncipe, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique and Zimbabwe
- trade mark oppositions
- civil litigation in trade mark infringement, passing off and unlawful competition matters
- anti-counterfeiting litigation
- recordal of proprietary changes, including assignments
- amendment of trade marks
- the drafting and formal recordal of franchising, licence and registered user agreements
- renewals and restorations, and
- due diligence investigations.
Patents / Utility Models (Petty Patents)
We handle the filing, prosecution and maintenance of patents through the national office (ZIPO) and ARIPO. Utility models (petty patents) registrations are undertaken through the ARIPO route only. Currently there are 18 member States (including Rwanda) under ARIPO’s Harare Protocol for the protection of Patents and Designs, namely Botswana, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Sierra Leon, Sào Tome & Prìncipe, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Copyright
Copyright is a growing area of concern in Zimbabwe. In respect of this practice area we offer the following services:
- copyright law advice
- civil and criminal litigation in respect of piracy, and
- the drafting of licence agreements and assignment agreements
Designs
We offer the following services both locally in Zimbabwe and regionally in respect of designs:
- national and Convention Industrial Design applications, prosecutions and renewals, and
- ARIPO (Regional) Design and Utility Model applications, prosecutions and renewals.
Domain names
We undertake domain name registrations and maintenance, in liaison with the Zimbabwe Internet Provider’s Association (ZISPA). Our practice in this area is growing.
Plant Breeders’ Rights Registrations
These are procured through the Ministry of Agriculture. Our services offered include filings, prosecution and renewals.
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