Sierra Leone is a member of the Paris Convention, the Madrid Agreement and Protocol, and the WTO/TRIPS.

Provision is made for the registration of trade marks for goods, for series marks and for parts of marks.

Although Sierra Leone is a member of the Paris Convention and the Madrid Agreement, it has not passed national legislation giving effect to these treaties; it is therefore not clear whether it will be possible to claim priority in terms of the Paris Convention or enforce international registrations in terms of the Madrid Agreement.

There is no specific provision for defensive marks.

Types of trademark registrable

Sierra Leone operates a “Single-class” registration system (A separate application is required for each class of goods or services)

There are provisions for the registration of CERTIFICATION MARKS and SERIES MARKS.

There are no provisions for SERVICE MARKS or DEFENSIVE MARKS

Documents required for trademark registration

1. Power of attorney (notarized)
2. Prints of the mark
3. Details of the applicant
4. A certified copy of the UK registration if the application is in respect of cotton goods
5. Specification of goods

Renewals

Duration of registration is for 14 Years from the date of Application. This may be renewed indefinitely for subsequent periods of 14 years.

Documents required for Renewals

1. Power of Attorney, simply signed.
2. Proof of renewal of basic U.K. registration (if applicable).

Documents required for Assignments/Mergers

1. Power of Attorney, simply signed.
2. Deed of Assignment or other instrument of title with verified English translation, or proof of recordal of assignment of basic registration in U.K. (if applicable).

Documents for Change of Name

1. Power of Attorney, simply signed.
2. Certificate of Change of Name, with verified English translation, or proof of recordal of change of name against basic U.K. registration (if applicable).

Documents required for Change of Address

1. Power of Attorney, simply signed.
2. Proof of recordal of change of address against basic U.K registration (if applicable).

Documents required for Licenses/Registered Users

In case of independent trademarks, no provisions exist for the recordal of licenses.
In the case of U.K.-based registrations the documents required are as follows:

1. Powers of Attorney, simply signed, from proprietor and licensee.
2. Proof of recordal of registered user against basic U.K. registration.

Sierra Leone is a member of the Paris Convention, ARIPO (Harare Protocol), the PCT and the WTO/TRIPS.

Patent protection is available by way of the confirmation of a granted UK or EP/UK patent, or via an ARIPO application designating Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone has not implemented the Harare Protocol (which regulates patent and design filings in ARIPO) in its national law. Accordingly, it is not clear whether patents granted by the ARIPO Patent Office will be enforceable in Sierra Leone.

Although the Registrar is currently accepting PCT national phase applications, the national laws of Sierra Leone have not been amended to provide for the PCT. Accordingly, the Registrar is not processing the applications to grant, as the draft Bill which incorporates the filing of PCT applications has not yet passed into law.

Filing Requirements

Re-registration of granted UK or European (UK) Patent

1. Power of Attorney (simply signed) (required on the day of filing)
2. Form of Application (simply signed) (required on the day of filing)
3. Two copies of granted UK or European (UK) patent (required on the day of filing)
4. Certificate from the British Comptroller giving particulars of the granted British patent

National Phase PCT Application

Sierra Leone has acceded to the PCT, however no new law has been enacted which would recognize or allow for the filing of PCT applications, nor have filing requirements for such application been specified. However, in practice the Registrar allows the lodging of PCT applications which will be dealt with when the new law is enacted.

Duration and Renewal

The patent remains in force for so long as the UK patent on which it is based remains in force. The term of an ARIPO patent will be twenty years from the filing date. No renewal fees are payable.

Sierra Leone is a member of the Paris Convention, the ARIPO (Harare Protocol), and the WTO/TRIPS.

A United Kingdom design extends automatically to Sierra Leone.

Registered design protection in Sierra Leone is also obtainable via ARIPO.  Since Sierra Leone has not implemented the Harare Protocol (which regulates patent and design filings in ARIPO) in its national laws, it is not clear whether ARIPO design registrations would be enforceable in Sierra Leone.

There is no national route for obtaining registered design protection in Sierra Leone.

Filing Requirements

1. Power of Attorney
2. Drawings or photographs or other adequate graphic representations of the article embodying the industrial design
3. An indication of the kinds of products for which the industrial design is to be used
4. A specimen of the article embodying the industrial design, where the industrial design is two-dimensional
5. Certified copy of priority document, if priority claimed
6. Verified Translation of Priority Document if not in English
7. Assignment document

Duration and Renewal

Design registration is valid for an initial term of five years from the filing date, which is renewable upon payment of the required fees for two further terms of five years each. A grace period of six months is provided for the payment of the renewal fee after the deadline.

Sierra Leone is not a member of the Berne Convention.

In Sierra Leone, although a Copyright Act was enacted in 1965, it was not possible, at the time of writing, to obtain a copy of the Sierra Leone Copyright Act. As indicated above, Sierra Leone has not yet acceded to the Berne Convention. Accordingly, no commentary on copyright could be given at the time of writing.