South African Trade Mark Renewal: Deadline and Licence Checks

Key takeaways

• A South African trade mark registration lasts for ten years and can be renewed for further ten-year periods. The renewal date is calculated from the application date, not the later date on which the registration certificate was issued. CIPC uses Form TM5 and accepts an ordinary renewal application during the period beginning six months before expiry and ending six months after expiry, with an additional fee after the due date.
• Do not run renewal from a reminder email alone. Verify the live register record, registration number, mark, class, goods or services, proprietor, address for service, application date, status and earlier renewal first. Renewing the registration does not correct a wrong owner, expand its scope, prove genuine use or update a trade-mark licence.
• Where another company uses the mark under licence, audit that relationship at the same time. Section 38 of the Trade Marks Act treats authorised use of a registered mark as permitted use and deems it use by the proprietor for relevant purposes. A licensee may also be recorded as a registered user, but the licence agreement, use evidence and register entry are separate controls.
• This guide is current to 21 July 2026. It is for a South African business owner, director, brand manager or portfolio administrator dealing with a registered mark approaching expiry, a missed due date or an active licensee. It is not a clearance, renewal, restoration, ownership or licence opinion.

Build the renewal register before paying

Create one line per registration, not one line per brand name:

Download or inspect the CIPC record and keep the renewal reminder as supporting evidence. CIPC says a reminder is sent to the email in the customer profile used for registration at least six months before expiry, but the proprietor remains responsible for preventing expiry. A former employee, agent, customer code or stale address is not a deadline control.

Use the application date, not the certificate date

Late registration can create a misleading certificate-based diary. Reconstruct the cycle:

1. identify the application date on the register and certificate;
2. add ten years for the original term;
3. identify every recorded renewal and its ten-year period;
4. compare the calculated expiry with CIPC's live record and notice; and
5. resolve any mismatch before filing.

Section 37 provides for ten-year registration and further ten-year renewals from the expiration of the original or last renewal. CIPC's current guidance confirms that the renewal date is determined from the application date.

Do not change the date merely because the mark was assigned, licensed, rebranded or placed under a different portfolio manager. Those events require their own records but do not restart the statutory term.

Renewal windows and current CIPC charges

The legal window and the operational fee should be controlled separately:

On 21 July 2026, CIPC's maintenance page listed R260 per trade mark for renewal, an additional R48 for a renewal lodged after expiry within the stated late period, and a further restoration-related amount after the six-month window. Its restoration instructions separately listed a special search and, if no conflicting application is found, Form TM5, restoration charges, an affidavit explaining the delay, Patent Journal advertisement and a three-month opposition period.

Fees and channels can change. Verify the live CIPC forms-and-fees page and payment reference on the day of filing. Do not rely on an old article, invoice or saved fee table.

Treat a missed renewal as a status problem

If expiry has passed:

• capture the exact due date and present register status;
• preserve every notice, payment attempt and failed filing;
• check whether the six-month Regulation 25 window remains open;
• identify applications filed during the lapsed period;
• confirm the restoration procedure and evidence required by CIPC;
• assess current use, licensed use and ownership; and
• stop anyone from representing restoration as complete until the register is updated.

Section 37 allows the Registrar to remove a mark for non-payment subject to prescribed restoration conditions. A removed mark can be treated as remaining on the register for a limited one-year purpose when later applications are considered, subject to the statutory use exception. That provision is not a substitute for renewal and should not be presented as proof that all enforcement or commercial rights continue unchanged.

Renewal does not fix the rest of the register

Compare the register against the corporate and transaction record before filing:

• Has the proprietor changed its company name?
• Was the mark sold, assigned, transferred in a restructuring or inherited?
• Is the registered entity dissolved, deregistered or no longer the operating company?
• Does the address for service still reach the responsible person?
• Are old registered users still recorded?
• Did an assignment affect a registered-user entry?
• Does the business now use a materially different logo or brand form?

CIPC uses different forms and evidence for changes, assignments and registered users. A TM5 renewal should not be used to imply that ownership, licensing or mark alteration has been regularised. Section 38 also provides that an existing registered-user entry is cancelled on a recorded assignment unless the new proprietor follows the prescribed maintenance route.

Audit genuine use for every renewed registration

Payment preserves the registration cycle; it does not answer a non-use challenge. Section 27 permits removal in respect of goods or services where the statutory non-use requirements are proved, including a continuous period of five years or longer after the certificate date in the circumstances described by the Act.

Build evidence by registration, mark and specification:

• dated product packaging, labels and screenshots;
• invoices and sales reports tied to the marked goods or services;
• catalogues, advertisements and campaign records;
• territory and customer-channel evidence;
• the exact way the mark appeared during each period;
• licence authority covering the licensee and use period; and
• an explanation linking each sample to the registered proprietor, user, class and specification.

In LA Group v Stable Brands (2022), the Supreme Court of Appeal stressed that a proprietor facing a non-use attack should produce clear and compelling evidence, not sparse or ambiguous allegations. Do not assume that evidence for one logo, class or related company proves use of every registration in a portfolio.

Separate licensed use from registered-user recordal

Section 38 contains three distinct ideas:

1. use by another person with the proprietor's licence is permitted use;
2. permitted use is deemed to be use by the proprietor for section 27 and other relevant purposes; and
3. a licensee may be entered on the register as a registered user for all or some registered goods or services.

The word “may” matters: registered-user recordal is not the same question as whether a valid licence exists. If recordal is selected, CIPC's current instructions require Form TM7 and supporting licence material, with separate processes for variation, cancellation and maintenance. A recorded user has specific statutory consequences, including prima facie evidence of permitted use and, subject to the agreement, a route under section 38(4) to call on the proprietor to enforce and later institute proceedings if the proprietor refuses or neglects to do so for two months.

Make the recordal decision registration by registration. Check whether the licence covers the exact registered mark, goods or services and term, and whether the register should show the user.

Licence controls to review with renewal

A decision-ready licence schedule should record:

Renewal should trigger a licence review, not an automatic extension. A licence may continue contractually while a registration lapses, yet the statutory and commercial position can change materially. Align the trade-mark diary and contract diary without assuming they are the same date.

Portfolio review sequence

1. Authenticate the CIPC register record and status.
2. Recalculate expiry from the application date.
3. Reconcile the proprietor, address, class and specification.
4. Identify every user and active licence.
5. Test genuine-use evidence per registration and specification.
6. File TM5 through the current channel before expiry where possible.
7. Retain the form, payment evidence, acknowledgement and updated register extract.
8. Use the correct separate route for ownership, address or registered-user changes.
9. Escalate any missed date, removed status, ownership break or disputed licence.
10. Set the next reminders at 18, 12 and 6 months before expiry.

Use the trade-mark glossary for the registered-right definition and the intellectual-property glossary for the broader rights context. The trade-mark search checklist is for conflict searching, not renewal. Use the trade-mark attorney directory to compare providers where restoration, assignment, non-use exposure or licensing terms need specialist review. A listing does not establish expertise, availability or an outcome.

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