Documents · South Africa
Protect your brand legally — register your name, logo or slogan as a South African trademark.
Registering a trademark with CIPC gives you an exclusive, enforceable legal right to use your brand name, logo or slogan for a specific class of goods or services across South Africa. Without registration, another business can adopt a confusingly similar mark and you have no clear legal recourse.
The application process involves selecting the correct Nice Classification class (or classes), running a clearance search to check for conflicting marks, filing the TM1 application, and defending against any objections raised by CIPC's examiners or third parties.
Amashad manages the full South African trademark application — clearance search, class selection, TM1 filing, response to CIPC examination reports, and the eventual issuance of your Trade Mark Registration Certificate.
We search the CIPC register for identical or confusingly similar marks in your class.
We identify the correct Nice class(es) and file the TM1 application with CIPC.
CIPC examines the application (6–12 months). We respond to any office actions.
If unopposed after publication, CIPC issues your Trade Mark Registration Certificate.
South Africa follows the Nice Classification system — 45 classes covering different categories of goods and services. Choosing the wrong class means your registration protects the wrong thing. For example, registering 'YourBrand' in class 25 (clothing) does not protect you against 'YourBrand' being used for a restaurant (class 43).
CIPC trademark registration currently takes 12 to 24 months from filing to registration certificate. Once filed, however, you may use the ™ symbol immediately and enforce your rights back-dated to the filing date once registered. Only after registration can you use the ® symbol.
A registered South African trademark is valid for 10 years and can be renewed indefinitely. It only covers South Africa — separate applications are required in other jurisdictions (Namibia, Botswana, EU, US) or via the Madrid Protocol.
12 to 24 months from filing at CIPC to final registration certificate. You can use ™ from the day of filing and enforce rights back-dated to filing once registered.
We recommend filing a 'word mark' for the name (broadest protection) and a separate 'device mark' for the stylised logo. We quote each application.
The clearance search reveals this upfront. If there's a conflict, we advise whether to rebrand, negotiate coexistence, or proceed and defend on the basis of a different class.
No. Registering 'YourBrand (Pty) Ltd' with CIPC only reserves the legal entity name. It does not stop another business from using 'YourBrand' as a trademark. A separate trademark filing is required.
Request a free, no-obligation quote — we respond within one business day.