Zambia Ushers In A New Era For Trade Marks

On 26 December 2025, the Trade Marks Act No. 11 of 2023 came into operation, replacing the outdated 1958 Act, which is more than 60 years old.

Although new Regulations remain in the works, for now, the new Act will be read together with the old Trade Mark Regulations of 1994. The relevant official fees also remain unchanged.

The introduction of the new Trade Marks Act in Zambia is a much welcomed and overdue development, aligning Zambia with international standards.

The new Act introduces protection for service marks, collective and certification marks, well-known marks, and geographical indications, and expands the definition of a trade mark to include non-traditional marks. The Act also allows multiclass applications, the division of applications, and honest concurrent use applications, making the registration system more flexible and commercially relevant.

The new Act strengthens enforcement and procedural mechanisms, introducing clearer grounds for opposition, cancellation and infringement. It enhances remedies available to trade mark owners, provides measures against groundless threats of infringement, and introduces border control and anti-counterfeiting provisions.

Importantly, the new Act domesticates the Madrid Protocol, enabling international registrations designating Zambia and, in principle, integrating the country more fully into the global trade mark system. However, in the absence of implementing regulations, there is uncertainty as to how the Madrid system will operate and, as it stands, international registrations cannot currently proceed to registration in practice. Key procedural issues such as designation procedures, time limits for examination and refusals, handling of provisional refusals, fees payable have not been prescribed. Coupled with ongoing digitisation challenges at the Zambia Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA), a cautious "wait-and-see" approach of at least the next 12 months is recommended.

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