Trademarks subject matter in Rwanda

• all forms of denominations including words, proper names, letters, figures and acronyms;
• figurative elements such as designs, relief, product forms or the relevant packaging;
• colors or combinations of colors;
• any combination of aforementioned signs

Conditions for trademark registration in Rwanda

A mark can be validly registered only if:

• it is distinctive;
• it is not confusing;
• it is not misleading or deceptive;
• it is not descriptive.

Requirements for trademark filing in Rwanda

• a request for registration of the mark;
• a reproduction of the mark;
• a list of products or services for which registration of the mark is requested, listed in the order of the relevant class or classes of the International Classification.
• a simply signed Power of Attorney (if applicable).

Term of a trademark registration in Rwanda

The duration of validity of the registration of a mark is 10 years from the filing date of the application for registration. On request, the registration of a mark may be indefinitely renewed for consecutive periods of ten years each, subject to payment by the owner of the prescribed renewal fee.

Patentable inventions in Rwanda

An invention shall be patentable if:

• it is new
• it involves an inventive step
• it is industrially applicable.

Novelty of an invention: An invention shall be new, if it is not anticipated by the prior art.The prior art shall consist of everything that has been disclosed, anywhere in the world, by publication in tangible form, by oral disclosure, by use or in any other way, prior to the filing date or, where appropriate, the priority date of the application claiming the invention. 

A disclosure of the invention shall not be taken into consideration, if it occurred within 12 months preceding the filing date or, where appropriate, the priority date of the application, and if it has resulted directly or indirectly from acts committed by the applicant or his legal predecessor, or from a violation committed by a third party with regard to the applicant or his legal predecessor.

Activity of Invention : An invention shall be considered as an activity of invention if, for a person skilled in the art and involved in that area, it is obvious there is a progress from the prior art compared to the patent application in which the invention is claimed.

Industrial applicability: An invention shall be considered industrially applicable, if its subject matter can be made or used in any kind of industry. The term “industry” shall be understood in its broadest sense, as any human economic activity leading to the production of goods and services and shall cover, in particular, handicrafts, agriculture, fishery and services.

Matters excluded from patent protection in Rwanda

The following shall be excluded from patent protection even if they constitute inventions :

• discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods
• schemes, rules or methods for doing business, performing purely mental acts or playing games
• methods for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy, as well as diagnostic methods practiced on the human or animal body; nevertheless, this provision shall not apply to products for use in any of those methods
• substances, even if purified, synthesized or otherwise isolated from nature; nevertheless, this provision shall not apply to the processes of isolating those substances from their original environment
• known substances for which a new use has been discovered; this provision shall not apply to the use itself, where it constitutes an invention
• plants and animals, including their parts, other than micro-organisms, and essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals and their parts, other than non-biological and microbiological processes and products obtained from those processes
• animal and plant varieties.
• pharmaceutical products, for the purposes of international conventions to which Rwanda is party
• inventions whose commercial use is contrary to public order and to morality.

Filing the application for patent registration in Rwanda

The application shall contain:

• a request for the grant of a patent
• a description of the invention
• one or more claims in the invention
• one or more drawings (where necessary)
• an abstract.

Duration of patent in Rwanda

The patent shall lapse twenty years after the filing date of the patent application.

In order to maintain the patent or patent application in force, an annual fee shall be paid in advance to the empowered authority, for each year, the first being paid one year after the filing date of the patent application.

Protected industrial design in Rwanda

An industrial design may be registered, provided that it is new. The protection is not extended to the features of an industrial design or model which are used only to obtain a technical effect and insofar as they leave no freedom as regards arbitrary features of the product’s appearance.

An industrial design shall be novel, if it has not been disclosed, in any place in the world, in the form of a tangible publication, by use or any other means, prior to the filing date or, where appropriate, the priority date of the registration request.

An industrial design shall be novel if it is not anticipated by the prior art.  The prior art shall consist of everything that has been disclosed, anywhere in the world, by publication in tangible form, by oral disclosure, by use of industrial or model or in any other way, prior to the filing date of the industrial design or model in the empowered authority or, where appropriate, the priority date of the application claiming the invention.

Requirements for industrial design application in Rwanda

• a request for registration of an industrial design or model
• drawings, photographs or other appropriate graphic representations of the subject incorporating the industrial design or model
• the indication of the kind of products for which the industrial design or model is intended to be used
• copy of the subject incorporating the industrial design or model
• declaration justifying the right of the applicant to register the industrial design or model (if applicable).

Duration of validity of an industrial design registration

The duration of validity of the registration of an industrial design is fifteen years from the filing date of the registration application.

Registration can be renewed for two consecutive periods of five years each, at fifth and tenth year, in return for payment of the prescribed fee.