Intellectual Property Law Protection in Zimbabwe

In order to protect your intellectual property, your intellectual property rights require formal registration. There are three principal ways in which intellectual property can be registered in Zimbabwe, this is through the Zimbabwe Intellectual Property Office (ZIPO), the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) which is situated in Harare, Zimbabwe or the Madrid International Trademark System (Madrid System).

The key pieces of legislation governing intellectual property in Zimbabwe are:

1. Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act [Chapter 26:05]
2. Geographical Indications Act [Chapter 26:06]
3. Industrial Designs Act [Chapter 26:02]
4. Intellectual Property Tribunal Act [Chapter 26:08]
5. Merchandise Marks Act [Chapter 14:13]
6. Patents Act [Chapter 26:03]
7. Plant Breeders Rights Act [Chapter 18:16]
8. Trade Marks Act [Chapter 26:04]

Zimbabwe is a contracting state to the following international legal instruments:

1. African Regional Intellectual Property Organization both the Banjul Protocol on Marks and the Harare Protocol on Patents and Industrial Designs;
2. Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works;
3. Madrid Protocol for the International Registration of Trade Marks;
4. Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property;
5. Patent Cooperation Treaty;
6. TRIPS Agreement: Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of intellectual Property Rights the World Trade Organization (WTO).
7. World Intellectual Property Organization.

Registration of intellectual property in Zimbabwe through Madrid Protocol

You are able to register trademarks and other intellectual property in Zimbabwe through the Madrid Protocol. In Zimbabwe this is possible through the Trade Marks (Madrid Protocol) Regulations, 2017.The effect of this is that a trade mark registered by the Zimbabwean Trade Marks Office in accordance with the Madrid Protocol will be accorded the same effect as a trade mark registered under the national Trade Marks Act.