--- title: "ARIPO: Trade Marks designating Tanzania are not enforceable" description: "Tanzania's Court of Appeal issued a decision on 26 September 2025 confirming that ARIPO trade marks designating Tanzania are not enforceable." image: https://spoor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/trade-marks-designating-Tanzania-e1760425211360.jpg canonical: https://spoor.com/aripo-trade-marks-designating-tanzania/ url: https://spoor.getmd.ai/aripo-trade-marks-designating-tanzania/.md last_converted: 2026-05-26T09:23:56.667Z --- ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Article", "@id": "https://spoor.com/aripo-trade-marks-designating-tanzania/#article", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://spoor.com/aripo-trade-marks-designating-tanzania/" }, "author": { "name": "Spoor & Fisher", "@id": "https://spoor.com/#/schema/person/7dad7b9bcdd00617832fbe66d90d9c29" }, "headline": "ARIPO: Trade Marks designating mainland Tanzania are not enforceable", "datePublished": "2025-10-14T06:58:35+00:00", "dateModified": "2025-10-17T08:46:40+00:00", "mainEntityOfPage": { "@id": "https://spoor.com/aripo-trade-marks-designating-tanzania/" }, "wordCount": 310, "commentCount": 0, "publisher": { "@id": "https://spoor.com/#organization" }, "image": { "@id": "https://spoor.com/aripo-trade-marks-designating-tanzania/#primaryimage" }, "thumbnailUrl": "https://spoor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/trade-marks-designating-Tanzania-e1760425211360.jpg", "keywords": [ "ARIPO", "Tanzania", "Trade Marks" ], "articleSection": [ "News Update" ], "inLanguage": "en-ZA", "potentialAction": [ { "@type": "CommentAction", "name": "Comment", "target": [ "https://spoor.com/aripo-trade-marks-designating-tanzania/#respond" ] } ] }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://spoor.com/aripo-trade-marks-designating-tanzania/", "url": "https://spoor.com/aripo-trade-marks-designating-tanzania/", "name": "ARIPO: Trade Marks designating Tanzania are not enforceable", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://spoor.com/#website" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://spoor.com/aripo-trade-marks-designating-tanzania/#primaryimage" }, "image": { "@id": "https://spoor.com/aripo-trade-marks-designating-tanzania/#primaryimage" }, "thumbnailUrl": "https://spoor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/trade-marks-designating-Tanzania-e1760425211360.jpg", "datePublished": "2025-10-14T06:58:35+00:00", "dateModified": "2025-10-17T08:46:40+00:00", "description": "Tanzania's Court of Appeal issued a decision on 26 September 2025 confirming that ARIPO trade marks designating Tanzania are not enforceable.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://spoor.com/aripo-trade-marks-designating-tanzania/#breadcrumb" }, "inLanguage": "en-ZA", "potentialAction": [ { "@type": "ReadAction", "target": [ "https://spoor.com/aripo-trade-marks-designating-tanzania/" ] } ] }, { "@type": "ImageObject", "inLanguage": "en-ZA", "@id": "https://spoor.com/aripo-trade-marks-designating-tanzania/#primaryimage", "url": "https://spoor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/trade-marks-designating-Tanzania-e1760425211360.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://spoor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/trade-marks-designating-Tanzania-e1760425211360.jpg", "width": 1200, "height": 482, "caption": "Dar es Salaam - Tanzania - June 16 2022 - Cityscape of Dar es Salaam at sunset featuring residential and office buildings." }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://spoor.com/aripo-trade-marks-designating-tanzania/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://spoor.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "ARIPO: Trade Marks designating mainland Tanzania are not enforceable" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://spoor.com/#website", "url": "https://spoor.com/", "name": "Spoor & Fisher", "description": "", "publisher": { "@id": "https://spoor.com/#organization" }, "potentialAction": [ { "@type": "SearchAction", "target": { "@type": "EntryPoint", "urlTemplate": "https://spoor.com/?s={search_term_string}" }, "query-input": { "@type": "PropertyValueSpecification", "valueRequired": true, "valueName": "search_term_string" } } ], "inLanguage": "en-ZA" }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://spoor.com/#organization", "name": "Spoor & Fisher", "url": "https://spoor.com/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "inLanguage": "en-ZA", "@id": "https://spoor.com/#/schema/logo/image/", "url": "https://spoor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/200210-SP-Logo_RGB-01-screen-scaled.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://spoor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/200210-SP-Logo_RGB-01-screen-scaled.jpg", "width": 2560, "height": 813, "caption": "Spoor & Fisher" }, "image": { "@id": "https://spoor.com/#/schema/logo/image/" }, "sameAs": [ "https://www.facebook.com/spoorfisher/", "https://x.com/spoorfisher" ] }, { "@type": "Person", "@id": "https://spoor.com/#/schema/person/7dad7b9bcdd00617832fbe66d90d9c29", "name": "Spoor & Fisher", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "inLanguage": "en-ZA", "@id": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c4170b7e7d52e6175f9816363d8719ca0de7acdec5fead0211250412726afcf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g", "url": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c4170b7e7d52e6175f9816363d8719ca0de7acdec5fead0211250412726afcf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g", "contentUrl": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c4170b7e7d52e6175f9816363d8719ca0de7acdec5fead0211250412726afcf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g", "caption": "Spoor & Fisher" } } ] } ``` [Home](https://spoor.com) › [Knowledge Centre](https://spoor.com/knowledge-centre/) › [Legal Updates/](https://spoor.com/knowledge-centre/legal-updates/) › ARIPO: Trade Marks designating mainland Tanzania are not enforceable # ARIPO: Trade Marks designating mainland Tanzania are not enforceable Spoor & Fisher - 14 October 2025 [ARIPO](https://spoor.com/tag/aripo/), [Tanzania](https://spoor.com/tag/tanzania/), [Trade Marks](https://spoor.com/tag/trade-marks/), The Court of Appeal of Tanzania issued a decision on 26 September 2025 confirming that ARIPO trade marks designating mainland Tanzania are not enforceable. This decision confirms our view. This is because the Banjul Trade Marks Protocol, which provides for trade mark registration for member states such as Tanzania has not been specifically incorporated into the Trade and Service Marks Act, 1986 in Tanzania and is therefore of no effect in mainland Tanzania. The Court of Appeal judges in the *Lakairo Industries Group Co. Limited & Others v. Kenafric Industries Limited & Others (Civil Appeal No. 593 of 2022)* ruled that the appellants’ trade marks could not have infringed the first respondent’s ARIPO trade marks designating mainland Tanzania because *“it is common ground..., that Tanzania had not ratified the corresponding Banjul Protocol.”* ***RELATED: [Tanzania: Mandatory Trade Mark Recordals](https://spoor.com/tanzania-mandatory-trade-mark-recordation/)*** The African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) was established under the Lusaka Agreement of 1976 and originally named the Industrial Property Organisation for English Speaking Africa (ESARIPO). Its objective was to provide centralised registration of patents and industrial designs and to promote harmonisation of intellectual property legislation. Trade mark registration was not catered for until the Banjul Trade Marks Protocol came into effect in 1997. It is important to note that patents and utility models are governed by the Harare Protocol and that ARIPO patents and utility models designating mainland Tanzania are valid and enforceable. In summary, this Court of Appeal decision applies only to trade marks and confirms that national trade mark registrations must be obtained with the trade marks office in mainland Tanzania to obtain valid and enforceable trade mark rights. [Contact us](mailto:info@spoor.co.uk) for more information. Visit the interactive map on our [Regions](https://spoor.com/regions/africa/) page for more information on IP law in Tanzania and other African countries, or find out more about our [trade mark expertise in Africa](https://spoor.com/service/trade-marks/).