Lesotho

General Information

• Capital: Maseru
• Population: 2.1 million
• Area: 30 355 km2
• Languages: English, Sesotho – official languages
• Exports: Clothing; footwear; wool; mohair; livestock; food
• Imports: Food; building materials; vehicles; machinery; medicines; petroleum products
• Currency: Maloti

Trade Marks

International Conventions

WIPO, WTO, Paris Union, Berne Union, Rome Convention, Hague Convention, Madrid Agreement and Madrid Protocol, member of ARIPO.

Requirements for Application

(a) Power of attorney, simply signed.
(b) Six prints of the trade mark - device marks.

Classification

International classification of goods and services. A single application may cover more than one class.

Procedure

Applications are examined as to inherent registrability and conflict with prior existing registrations/applications.

Opposition

Opposition may be lodged within three months following advertisement of the trade mark application in the official gazette.

Use

May be removed from the register on the ground that up to one month prior to filing the application for cancellation, the trade mark had, after its registration, not been used during a continuous period of three years.

Duration and Renewal

A trade mark registration is effective for an initial period of ten years and, thereafter, renewable for like periods.

Licensing/Registered Users

Licensing is recognised. Recordation is required to be legally binding. The license agreement must provide for quality control by the licensor.

Requirements

(a) License agreement;
(b) Power of attorney from the proprietor;
(c) Power of attorney from the licensee

Assignments

Assignments are possible and may be made with or without goodwill of the business.

Recordation is required in order to be effective against third parties. 

Requirements

(a) Deed of assignment;
(b) Power of attorney from the assignee.

Marking of Goods

Notice of registration by use of the legend ‘Registered Trade Mark’ or suitable abbreviation (eg. ‘Regd. Tm.’) or symbol ® optional.

Textile goods containing sheep’s wool, whether in the piece or made up, are now subject to special marking regulations. There are special marking regulations, for potentially harmful drugs, many other drugs, and for food. Labels should be in English.

Every bag, package, wrapper, case or other container in which goods of any kind are imported into the Republic for the purpose of sale, sold, exposed for sale, or delivered to a purchaser, other than on the basis of weight or measure, shall avoid all direct or indirect indication of either weight or measure, including numbers which might be construed as such an indication. This does not prohibit outer containers from being marked with the shipping weight.

Patents

General

Patent protection is obtainable via a national filing or by way of an ARIPO application. Lesotho is a member of the International Convention, PCT, and WTO and of ARIPO.

Patentable Subject Matter

Inventions must be new, involve an inventive step and be industrially applicable.

The following are not Patentable Subject Matter:
inventions contrary to law or morality;
discoveries, scientific theories, mathematical methods;
plant or animal varieties or essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals;
schemes, rules or methods for doing business, performing mental acts or playing games; and
methods for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy, diagnostic methods practiced on the human or animal body. 

Filing Requirements

Neither legalization nor notarisation of documents is required. A specification in English is needed

Novelty

An invention is new if it has not been disclosed to the public, anywhere in the world, by publication in tangible form; or in Lesotho, by oral disclosure, by use or in any other way prior to the filing, or the priority date. A grace period of six months preceding the filing date or the priority date is provided if the disclosure was by reason or in consequence of acts committed by the applicant or his predecessor in title or of an abuse committed by a third party with regard to the applicant or his predecessor in title.

Examination

An application is subjected to formal Examination and may be subjected to substantive examination.

Duration/Maintenance

The term is fifteen years from the filing date, extendible by five years if proof of working is supplied. Maintenance fees are payable as from the first anniversary of the filing date. A six months grace period is available.

Working

A non-exclusive, compulsory licence will be granted to a government agency or third person in the public interest, particularly if national security, nutrition, health or the development of other vital sectors so require it. After fours years from the date of filing, or three years from the grant of the patent, whichever occurs later, the Registrar may grant a non-exclusive licence if the patent has not been sufficiently worked without justification.

Licences/Assignments

All licence contracts and assignments must be submitted to the Registrar.