- African
1. Burundi is a landlocked country in eastern Africa. The whole territory is south of the Sahara Desert, and the country is divided into six provinces. The current trademark protection law in Burundi is the trademark law of 1964. Burundi became independent in July 1962, and the trademark rights obtained according to the trademark law before independence are not affected by the new trademark law;
2. Burundi's trademark registration authority is the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism of Burundi, and the official language is French.
3. The trademark registration in Burundi adopts the principle of "first application", but in some cases, the trademark right can also be claimed by "first use".
4. At present, the authorities of Burundi accept one form of multi category applications, using the description of goods and services in the 11th edition of the Nice Classification.
Burundi is a party to the TRIPS Agreement, the Paris Convention and other international intellectual property treaties, and an observer country of the African Industrial Property Organization. It has not yet joined the Madrid Agreement or the Madrid Protocol, so trademark registration can only be handled through "single country registration".
The trademark of Burundi is valid for 10 years after registration, and the period of validity starts from the application date; Renewal can be processed within 6 months before the expiration date, with a grace period of 6 months; The renewal is valid for 10 years.
If the trademark of Burundi is not used for three consecutive years after registration, any interested person may submit an application to the local court to request the trademark authority to revoke the registered trademark; Except for cases where the right holder is unable to use it normally due to force majeure such as trade restrictions and trade barriers.
If the applicant is not resident in Burundi, he/she must entrust a special agent in his/her own country to handle it.
The basic materials required for trademark registration in Burundi are:
1. Trademark design;
2. Category and specific product/service items;
3. Name and address of the applicant;
4. Power of attorney, just sign it;
If priority is declared, priority proof documents and corresponding French translations must be provided.
Application, acceptance, review, announcement, approval, and issuance.
After the application is submitted, the official first conducts a formal review, which examines whether the application documents and classification information comply with the regulations. Generally, it takes 4 weeks to complete the acceptance process. After acceptance, substantive examination of the trademark will be conducted, including examination of the distinctiveness of the trademark, whether it violates the prohibition and prohibition clauses, and whether it conflicts with the prior trademark. After passing the examination, it will be announced; If the review fails, a rejection notice shall be issued and the applicant shall be required to respond within the time limit specified in the rejection notice.
The initial review has a 30 day objection period from the date of announcement, and any interested party or prior right holder may raise objections. The main reasons for raising objections are: 1. Conflict with prior trademarks, such as owning prior registered trademarks; 2. The trademark lacks distinctiveness; 3. The trademark has adverse effects; 4. Malicious registration; 5. Conflict with other prior rights, such as trade name rights, design rights, copyrights, personal names, etc.
If there are no objections or objections are not valid during the announcement period, registration can be approved and a registration certificate can be issued after the objection period ends.
Under smooth conditions, it will take one year for Burundi to register its trademark; If there are objections or rejections encountered midway, the time will be greatly extended.
