Botswana is a member of the ARIPO (Banjul Protocol), the Madrid Protocol, the Paris Convention and the WTO/TRIPS.
The Act expressly provides that, by the registration of a trade mark, the owner acquires the exclusive right to the mark, in the sense that only the owner can authorise other persons to use the mark. Provision is made for the registration of trade marks in respect of goods and services, and for collective marks.
Trade mark protection may be obtained by way of a national filing in Botswana; or by way of a convention application claiming the priority of an earlier application in a convention country; or by way of an ARIPO registration.
Although Botswana has also acceded to the Madrid Protocol, the current domestic laws have not been amended to provide for trade mark registrations via the Madrid Protocol. Accordingly, it is not certain whether enforceable rights can at this time be obtained in Botswana via a Madrid registration. (The Industrial Property Act, 2010 which came into effect in August 2012 provides for applications under the Madrid Protocol.)