Trademark Renewal at KIPI: The 90-Day Window, Late Fees and the Removal Risk

Trademark renewal at KIPI is a paper deadline with real consequences. A Kenyan registration lasts ten years and can be renewed for further ten-year periods, but the Registrar may remove a mark from the register if the renewal conditions are not met. This article sets out when a renewal can be filed, what the Trade Marks Rules require, what KIPI charges and what happens if the date is missed, so that foreign owners and their local counsel can diarise the deadline correctly.

The renewal window under rule 64

Under section 23 of the Trade Marks Act (Cap. 506), a registration is for ten years, and the Registrar must renew it on application made in the prescribed manner and within the prescribed period. Rule 64 of the Trade Marks Rules supplies that period: the renewal fee is left at the KIPI office on Form TM 10 at any time not more than ninety days before the registration expires. KIPI’s Practice Note Seven confirms that the ten years run from the effective date of registration or from the last renewal, and that renewal is effected on the register once Form TM 10 and the fee are submitted.

Two practical points follow. First, the rule sets a ceiling on how early you can file, so we do not file before the window opens. Second, any person may leave the fee, not only the registered proprietor. A person who is not the proprietor must sign a statement on the form that the proprietor has directed the payment, and the Registrar may require an authority signed by the proprietor within ten days, failing which the fee may be returned and treated as not received. A foreign owner using a new local agent should therefore have a signed authority ready before filing.

What KIPI sends, and why you should not wait for it

Rule 65 requires the Registrar, not less than thirty and not more than sixty days before expiry, to notify the registered proprietor in writing if no renewal fee has been received. Rule 66 allows a second notice fourteen to thirty days before expiry, but Practice Note Seven of 30 June 2017 records that the Registrar has discontinued it. The rule 65 notice is therefore the only reminder the Rules require, and it is addressed to the registered proprietor. Owners who have moved, changed agents or changed their name without updating the register cannot count on receiving it. Rule 81 requires a proprietor to request an alteration of the address on Form TM 17 when it changes; see our article on trademark change of name and address at KIPI.

Official fees

KIPI publishes local and foreign fees. The foreign fee applies where the person paying, or on whose behalf the fee is paid, neither resides nor has a principal place of business in Kenya. KIPI’s published schedule shows:

• Renewal on Form TM 10, first class: KES 4,000 (local) or USD 200 (foreign); each subsequent class KES 3,000 or USD 150.
• Additional fee for renewal within thirty days after advertisement of non-renewal (rule 67): KES 3,000 or USD 150.
• Restoration fee after removal (rule 68): KES 5,000 or USD 250, payable with the renewal fee.

These are official fees only; professional fees are separate. Some published commentary quotes different renewal and late fees and a six-month grace period. We have relied on KIPI’s own schedule and the Rules, and owners should confirm the current schedule before paying.

If the date is missed

If the renewal fee has not been paid on the expiry date, rule 67 requires the Registrar to advertise that fact in the Journal or the Kenya Gazette. If the renewal fee and the additional late fee are received within one month after the advertisement, the Registrar may renew the registration without removing the mark. If not, rule 68 lets the Registrar remove the mark from the register as of the date the last registration expired, and restore it later only if satisfied that it is just to do so, on payment of the renewal and restoration fees and on conditions the Registrar imposes. Our article on restoring a removed trademark at KIPI covers that stage. The late-fee route is inexpensive and the restoration route is discretionary, so the safe course is to file inside the ninety-day window.

Proof of renewal, and international registrations

Under rule 70, on renewal the Registrar sends a notice to the registered proprietor and advertises the renewal in the Journal or the Kenya Gazette. In our experience the renewal certificate itself can take several months after filing, often six to eight, so owners should keep KIPI’s filing receipt and the advertisement as interim evidence. Note that an international registration designating Kenya is renewed with WIPO’s International Bureau, not by Form TM 10 at KIPI; the Madrid Regulations provide for the Bureau to record the renewal, notify the designated offices and send a certificate to the holder. Our article on Madrid designations in Kenya explains how those marks are examined.

Renewal does not cure non-use

Rule 64 does not ask for evidence of use, so a renewal can be filed for a mark that is not in use. That does not make the registration safe. Section 29 of the Act allows a person aggrieved to seek removal of a mark that has gone five years without bona fide use; see our guide to removal for non-use under section 29. A renewal date is a good moment to check which goods and services the mark is actually used for.

As far as we can confirm, the Kenya Intellectual Property Bill, 2026, which would merge KIPI into a new authority, is still before Parliament. Until it is enacted, the Act and Rules described above continue to govern; our note on the Kenya Intellectual Property Authority Bill tracks the proposal.