Trademark Law in Mauritius
Patent, Industrial Designs and Trade Marks Act 2002 (Act 25 of 2002; Proclamation No. 1 of 2003 with effect as of January 6, 2003). Trademarks are registered at the International Trade Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade. The Industrial Property Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade registers and protects industrial property rights: patents, industrial designs, and trademarks.
The exclusive right to any mark shall be acquired by registration, which makes Mauritius a first-to-file country.
Trademark in Mauritius - Requirements
Unregistrable trademarks:
- incapable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises;
- is contrary to public order or morality;
- misleading
- as an element, an armorial bearing, flag of any country or of an intergovernmental organization;
- identical to well-known trademarks in Mauritius for identical or similar goods;
- identical with a registered mark in respect of the same goods or services or closely related goods or services;
- trademarks containing the word standard or Mauritius
Fill out our simple online form in just 5 minutes and a Trademark Specialist will contact you within 24 hours in order to guide you through the process.
Brand registration in Mauritius - Procedure
Our attorney will file your trademark within 10 business days after receiving all the required documents. Mauritius uses the International Classification of Nice, therefore, the description of products and services must be in accordance with the classification.
Where an applicant's residence or principal place of business is outside Mauritius, he must be represented by a local attorney in Mauritius.
- a preliminary search (done by you or your attorney - optional) of existing trade-marks;
- an application;
- an examination of your application by the Industrial Property Office;
- acceptance and publication of the application in the Mauritius Government Gazette.
- opposition period to the application by other parties (2 months as of the date of publication); and
- issuance of a registration certificate ( if there is no opposition after the prescribed 2 months)
Trademark application in Mauritius
Can be found in this link. Our attorney will fill out the document for you, should you decide to apply for your trademark in the country. The official fees are Rs3,150 per 2 classes.
Trademark Search (Mauritius)
A trademark search may be requested at the Mauritius Industrial Property Office upon payment of the prescribed fee of Rs. 210. You may request our trademark study as well. You may request a free basic search online on this page. The Trademark Office of Mauritius does not offer a free online trademark search on its web-page.
Trademark registration: Duration
The registration of a mark shall be for a period of 10 years from the filing date of the application for registration. The registration of any mark may be renewed for consecutive periods of 10 years. Any interested person may request the Controller to remove from the Register a mark which has not been used during a continuous period of not less than three years.
Note, that the price of a registration request includes the final registration fee. These prices include everything for a straightforward process of registration. The prices do not include any legal defenses in case of oppositions or objections.
We offer the following services in Mauritius:
- Trademark Search (wordmarks only)
- Trademark Registration
- Trademark renewal
- Trademark oppositions
- Defenses in case of oppositions or objections/office actions in Mauritius
- Trademark assignment
- Change of name/Change of Address
If you are interested in any of these services, please do not hesitate to contact us.