Maintenance of South African Trademarks

Duration and renewal of Trademarks

A trademark is registered for a period of 10 years, calculated from the date of the original application, and may be renewed in perpetuity for like periods on application in the prescribed manner and on payment of the renewal fees.

If the prescribed classification in accordance with which a trademark was originally registered changes during the subsistence of the registration, it would be desirable to revise the specification of goods and services under the registration to conform with the new classification. The revision may be undertaken at any time, but most conveniently with renewal.

Trademark Offences

It is an offence to represent that:

• an unregistered trade mark is a registered trade mark;
• a part of a trade mark not separately registered is a registered trade mark;
• a registered trade mark is registered for goods or services for which it is not in fact registered; and
• the registration gives exclusive rights when in fact it does not.

A person who is found guilty of any of the above offences shall be liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 12 months.