Registration of personal names as atrademark has existed for many years. There are countries that allowregistration of personal names as a trademark and there are countries thatprohibit it. The question is why do countries ban the registration of personalnames as Trademark.

In Tanzania, the law allows theregistration of a person's name as a trademark. Yet the law clearly statesthat, where the name or representation of any person appears on a mark, theRegistrar shall, if he so require, before proceeding to registrar the mark befurnished with consent from him or, in the case of a person recently dead, fromhis legal representatives, and in default of such consent he may refuse toregister the mark.

In that sense, if you need to register personalname or representation of such person as a trademark in Tanzania, you must getpermission from that person before applying to register. This will avoid costsand objection from the Registrar. It will also avoid unnecessary oppositionfrom a person whose name wants to be registered as a trademark.

Mkama M. Kalebu

Managing Partner and Intellectualproperty Consultant

ENDO & Co. Advocates

Mkama.kalebu@ndowoadvocates.co.tz

What sap: +255 657577055