Intellectual property law in Africa keeps shifting. Regulatory reform and new case law are reshaping how trademarks and copyright work across the continent.
Three developments from 2025 matter most to rights holders, investors and brand owners. Tanzania introduced mandatory trademark recordation. Uganda streamlined copyright registration. A Tanzanian appeal court then ruled that ARIPO registrations do not automatically create enforceable rights there.
Tanzania: mandatory mark recordation
New recordation requirements took effect on 1 December 2025. The Finance Act, 2025 introduced the Merchandise Marks (Recordation) Regulations.
The purpose is practical. Recordation helps owners protect their rights, blocks counterfeit imports and protects consumers. Every product imported into Tanzania must now have its trademark recorded, whatever country originally registered the mark. The result is a national database of marks and proprietors that supports the identification and seizure of counterfeits.
The timelines are tight.
- Statutory examination: 21 days from the date the recordation application is submitted.
- Change of ownership: notify the Commission within 30 days of an assignment or licence. Miss the deadline and the recordation is cancelled, unless the new owner does not want to keep it.
- Change of name only: notify within 7 days, with the certificate of change of name and supporting documents.
- Effective date: recordation runs from the Chief Inspector’s approval, not the filing date, and lasts one year from approval.
The consequences of getting this wrong are commercial. Customs may seize goods at the border where the mark is not properly recorded, which brings direct economic loss. Owners should also confirm that anyone acting for them before the Fair Competition Commission holds proper authority.
Uganda: a faster copyright process
The Copyright and Neighboring Rights (Amendment) Regulations, S.I. No. 71 of 2025 took effect on 26 September 2025. They replaced Regulation 5 of the 2010 Regulations.
The new route is simpler. Where the Registrar is satisfied with an applicant’s information, the Registrar enters the name in the Register and issues a certificate of registration as proof.
Opposition works differently now. Previously a 60-day gazette period allowed oppositions before registration. Under the new Regulations, an aggrieved party objects by ordinary letter to the Registrar setting out reasons. The Registrar may convene a meeting between the parties, and may then cancel or amend the certificate if satisfied by the objection.
This makes registration considerably faster. One caution remains. Copyright arises on creation and fixation, yet intellectual property rights stay territorial, subject to exceptions in national law and international treaties.
Tanzania: ARIPO marks do not confer enforceable rights
The Court of Appeal in Tanzania decided Lakairo Industries Group Co. Ltd & Others v. Kenafrica Industries Ltd & Others, Civil Appeal No. 593 of 2022, on 26 September 2025.
The accepted position had been different. Because the Banjul Protocol on Marks lets ARIPO register trademarks for Contracting States, most practitioners assumed a mark designating Tanzania was protected there. Tanzania acceded to the Protocol on 1 September 1999.
The Court disagreed. Tanzania had never ratified or domesticated the Protocol, so ARIPO marks get no protection.
The ruling raises a treaty law question. Article 27 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969 says a contracting party cannot escape its international obligations by pointing to national law.
The practical advice is clear. Clients holding ARIPO marks, or planning to file at ARIPO, should register separately in Tanzania at the Business Registration and Licensing Agency. Anyone with ARIPO regional marks should also run an IP audit to establish where those marks actually stand.
What rights holders should do
These changes reward early action. Importers into Tanzania need recordation in place before goods move. Brand owners across the region should check whether their protection rests on assumptions that no longer hold.
We will continue to monitor these developments. As a one-stop shop for intellectual property law in Africa, we remain available to act for clients in Uganda, Tanzania and across the continent.
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