Trade Marks Act Cap 506 in Kenya

This Act may be cited as the Trade Marks Act.

(1) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires— "a convention country" means a country, other than Kenya, that is party to the Paris Convention; "appointed day" means the 1st January, 1957; "ARIPO" means the African Regional Industrial Property Organization; "assignment" means...

(1) The Director shall be the Registrar of Trade Marks under and for the purposes of this Act. (2) The appointment of the officers required for the purposes of this Act shall be made in accordance with the provisions of the Industrial Property Act (Cap. 509). (3) The Registrar shall have a seal of...

(1) There shall continue to be kept at the office of the Registrar of Trade Marks for the purposes of this Act the record called the register of trade marks, wherein shall be entered all registered trade marks with the names, addresses and descriptions of their proprietors, notifications of...

No person shall be entitled to institute any proceeding to prevent, or to recover damages for, the infringement of an unregistered trade mark, but nothing in this Act shall be deemed to affect rights of action against any person for passing off or the remedies in respect thereof.

(1) A trade mark shall be registered in respect of particular goods or services, which shall be classified in the manner specified in subsection (2). (2) The goods and services in respect of which registration of a mark is applied for shall be classified in accordance with the International...

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, and of sections 10 and 11, the registration (whether before or after 1st January, 1957) of a person in Part A of the register as the proprietor of a trade mark if valid gives to that person the exclusive right to the use of the trade mark in relation to...

(1) Except as provided by subsection (2), the registration (whether before or after the commencement of this Act) of a person in Part B of the register as proprietor of a trade mark if valid gives to that person the same right and the provisions of section 7 shall have effect in the same manner in...

(1) Where, by a contract in writing made with the proprietor or a licensee of a registered trade mark, a purchaser or owner of goods or a person performing the services, enters into an obligation to the effect that he will not do, in relation to the goods or services, an act to which this section...

Nothing in this Act shall entitle the proprietor or a licensee of a registered trade mark to interfere with or restrain the use by any person of a trade mark identical with or nearly resembling it in relation to goods in relation to which that person or a predecessor in title of his has continuously...

No registration of a trade mark shall interfere with— (a) any bona fide use by a person of his own name or of the name of his place of business, or of the name, or of the name of the place of business, of any of his predecessors in business; or (b) the use by any person of any bona fide...

(1) In order for a trade mark (other than a certification trade mark) to be registrable in Part A of the register, it must contain or consist of at least one of the following essential particulars— (a) the name of a company, individual or firm, represented in a special or particular manner; (b) the...

(1) In order for a trade mark to be registrable in Part B of the register it must be capable, in relation to the goods in respect of which it is registered or proposed to be registered, of distinguishing goods with which the proprietor of the trade mark is or may be connected in the course of trade...

(1) No person shall register as a trade mark or part of a trade mark any matter the use of which would, by reason of its being likely to deceive or cause confusion or otherwise, be disentitled to protection in a court of justice, or would be contrary to law or morality, or any scandalous...

(1) Subject to the provisions of subsection (2), no trade mark shall be registered in respect of any goods or description of goods that is identical with or nearly resembles a mark belonging to a different proprietor and already on the register in respect of the same goods or description of goods,...

(1) References in this Act to a trade mark which is entitled to protection under the Paris Convention or the WTO Agreement as a well known trade mark, are to a mark which is well known in Kenya as being the mark of a person who— (a) is a national of a convention country; or (b) is domiciled in, or...

(1) In all legal proceedings relating to a trade mark registered in Part A of the register (including applications under section 35) the original registration in Part A of the register of the trade mark shall, after the expiration of seven years from the date of that registration, be taken to be...

If a trade mark— (a) contains any part not separately registered by the proprietor as a trade mark; or (b) contains matter common to the trade or to the provision of services of that description or otherwise of a non-distinctive character, the Registrar or the court, in deciding whether the trade...

(1) The registration of a trade mark shall not be deemed to have become invalid by reason only of any use, after the date of the registration, of a word or words which the trade mark contains, or of which it consists, as the name or description of an article or substance or of some...

(1) A trade mark may be limited in whole or in part to one or more specified colours, and in any such case the fact that it is so limited shall be taken into consideration by the court or the Registrar having to decide on the distinctive character of the trade mark. (2) If and so far as a trade...

(1) A person claiming to be the proprietor of a trade mark used or proposed to be used by him who is desirous of registering it shall apply in writing to the Registrar in the prescribed manner for registration either in Part A or in Part B of the register. (2) Subject to the provisions of this Act,...

(1) When an application for registration of a trade mark has been accepted, whether absolutely or subject to conditions or limitations, the Registrar shall, as soon as may be after acceptance, cause the application as accepted to be advertised in the prescribed manner, and the advertisement shall...

(1) When an application for registration of a trade mark in Part A or in Part B of the register has been accepted, and either— (a) the application has not been opposed and the time for notice of opposition has expired; or (b) the application has been opposed and the opposition has been decided in...

(1) The registration of a trade mark shall be for a period of ten years, but may be renewed from time to time in accordance with the provisions of this section. (2) The Registrar shall, on application made by the registered proprietor of a trade mark in the prescribed manner and within the...

(1) Where the proprietor of a trade mark claims to be entitled to the exclusive use of any part thereof separately, he may apply to register the whole and any such part as separate trade marks. (2) Each such separate trade mark must satisfy all the conditions of an independent trade mark and shall,...

(1) A registered trade mark is assignable and transmissible either in connection with the goodwill of a business or not. (2) A registered trade mark is assignable and transmissible in respect of either all the goods or all the services in respect of which it is registered or of some only of those...

Subject to the provisions of this Act, the person for the time being entered in the register as proprietor of a trade mark shall, subject to any rights appearing from the register to be vested in any other person, have power to assign the trade mark, and to give effectual receipts for any...

(1) Where a person becomes entitled by assignment or transmission to a registered trade mark, he shall make application to the Registrar to register his title, and the Registrar shall, on receipt of the application and on proof of title to his satisfaction, register him as the proprietor of the...

(1) Subject to the provisions of section 30, a registered trade mark may be taken off the register in respect of any of the goods or services in respect of which it is registered on application by any person aggrieved to the court or, at the option of the applicant and subject to the provisions of...

(1) Where a trade mark consisting of an invented word or invented words has become so well known as respects any goods in respect of which it is registered and in relation to which it has been used that the use thereof in relation to other goods would be likely to be taken as indicating a connexion...