How to Register a Trademark in Ghana: Steps, Fees and Rules (2026)

Why a registered trademark matters for a Ghanaian business

Your brand is often worth more than your equipment. The name customers ask for at the market, the logo on your sachets, the label on your shea butter jars: that is what brings repeat business. But unless you register it, your legal protection in Ghana is thin.

Under the Trade Marks Act, 2004 (Act 664), registering a mark gives the owner an exclusive right to use it for the goods or services it is registered for. Once registered, nobody else may use it for those goods or services without your agreement, and you can take them to court. Where someone uses an identical sign on identical goods, the Act presumes that customers will be confused, so you do not have to prove confusion first.

Many small business owners assume that registering their business name already protects their brand. It does not. Business and company registration is handled by the Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC), which took over that work under the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992). Trademarks stayed with the Registrar-General's Department (RGD), which runs the Trade Mark Registry. They are separate registers with separate purposes. Act 664 even lists "it is a trade name" as a ground for refusing a trademark. A business name tells the state who you are. A trademark protects the badge you sell under. If you have not yet formalised the business itself, start with our guide on how to register a business in Ghana.

What you can and cannot register

The Act defines a trade mark as any sign or combination of signs capable of distinguishing your goods or services from someone else's. That includes words, personal names, letters, numerals and figurative elements such as logos. You can also register a collective mark, which a group of businesses uses under the control of one registered owner. That suits a cooperative or producers' association that wants one quality mark for its members. A collective-mark application must come with a copy of the rules governing how members may use it.

Section 5 of the Act sets out what the Registrar must refuse. A mark will not be registered if it:

• is a trade name;
• cannot distinguish your goods or services from another enterprise's (plain descriptive words like "Fresh Bread" for bread usually fail here);
• is contrary to public order or morality;
• is likely to mislead the public about where the goods come from, what they are, or their characteristics;
• copies or imitates a state flag, coat of arms, official sign or hallmark, or the name or initials of an intergovernmental organisation, without authority;
• is identical or confusingly similar to a well-known mark, including a translation of one; or
• is identical or too close to a mark already on the register, or to one filed earlier, for the same or closely related goods or services.

In practice, invented or unusual words make the strongest marks. A made-up name is easy to register and easy to enforce. A word that simply describes your product is hard to register and harder to defend. Also think about how the name reads and sounds in Twi, Ewe, Ga, Hausa and other widely spoken languages. A name that sounds like an existing brand in a local language can still be treated as confusingly similar.

Step 1: Search the register before you commit

The RGD describes a preliminary search as optional. Treat it as essential. The register is open to the public, and a search shows whether an identical or similar mark is already registered or pending for your kind of goods or services.

Ghana effectively works on a first-to-file basis. The person who files first usually wins, even if you have been using the name longer. Finding a clash before you print packaging, paint a signboard or build a website is far cheaper than losing an opposition or being sued later. When you search, check for:

• identical marks in your class;
• marks that look similar (one letter different, similar logo shapes);
• marks that sound similar when spoken aloud; and
• the same mark registered for closely related goods. A drinks mark can block a similar mark for snacks, for example.

Step 2: Choose your classes

Act 664 requires you to list your goods or services using the International Classification, meaning the Nice Classification. It sorts everything into 45 classes: 34 for goods and 11 for services. Clothing, food products, cosmetics, financial services and restaurant services all sit in different classes.

Your protection covers only the classes and goods you list. A soap maker registered in the cosmetics and cleaning class has no registration covering a line of branded T-shirts. On the other hand, listing classes you will never use invites a non-use challenge later (see below) and may add cost. Register for what you sell now and what you realistically plan to sell in the next few years.

Ask the RGD how its fees apply when you file in more than one class. The published schedule does not say whether fees are charged per class or per application.

Step 3: File Trade Mark Form No. 2

Applications are made on Trade Mark Form No. 2. The application must include:

• a clear reproduction of the mark. The RGD asks for four representations;
• the applicant's name and address;
• the list of goods or services and their classes; and
• payment of the prescribed fee.

You can file in person at the RGD, and practitioners report that online filing is also available. Keep the acknowledgment of receipt. Your filing date matters: it sets your priority against later applicants and starts your ten-year term.

If you already filed abroad. Section 4(3) lets you claim priority from an earlier application in a Paris Convention or WTO member country. For trademarks, the priority period is six months. If a Ghanaian exporter filed in another member country in March and then files in Ghana within six months, the Ghana application can be treated as filed on the March date.

If you live or trade outside Ghana. Section 17 requires anyone whose ordinary residence or principal place of business is outside Ghana to be represented by a legal practitioner resident and practising in Ghana. A diaspora founder with the business run from London or Houston should budget for a local lawyer. Applicants based in Ghana may file for themselves.

Step 4: Examination, publication and opposition

The Registrar examines the application against the Act. First comes a formal check (correct details, classes and representation). Then a substantive check asks whether the mark is distinctive and clear of the section 5 grounds.

If it passes, the application is published in the Industrial Trade Marks Bulletin. According to the RGD, it stays open for opposition for two months. During that window any interested person can file a notice of opposition. If someone does:

1. The Registrar sends you the notice.
2. You must file a counter-statement setting out why the mark should be registered, within the prescribed period.
3. If you do not respond, the Act treats your application as abandoned. People miss this. Keep your contact details current and check your mail.
4. The Registrar hears both sides and decides. Section 39 makes the Registrar's decisions subject to appeal.

Publication also gives you something straight away. From the date of publication until registration, section 6(7) gives you the same rights you would have if the mark were registered. The one exception: an alleged infringer has a defence if they show the mark could not validly have been registered.

Watch the Bulletin for other people's applications too. Opposing a rival's copycat application in its two-month window is far easier than trying to have a registered mark invalidated in the High Court later.

Step 5: Registration, certificate and the ® symbol

If nobody opposes, or an opposition is decided in your favour, the Registrar registers the mark, publishes a reference to the registration and issues a certificate of registration. Registration lasts ten years from the filing date, not from the date the certificate is issued.

Only use the ® symbol or the word "registered" once you actually hold the registration. Section 45 makes it an offence to falsely represent a mark as registered. The penalty is a fine of up to 250 penalty units, up to six months' imprisonment, or both, plus up to 25 penalty units a day while the offence continues. While your application is pending, "TM" is the safer marking. Section 45 does not bar honest references to a mark registered in another country, provided the foreign registration is actually in force and clearly identified as foreign.

What it costs

The RGD's published schedule lists:

Worked example. A Kumasi cosmetics maker runs a search, files one application and pays for the certificate. Using the schedule, that comes to US$615 in official fees (135 + 240 + 240). The fees are dollar-denominated, and the RGD's own wording says you may pay the Ghana cedi equivalent. The cedi cost therefore moves with the exchange rate. The same registration costs more cedis after a period of depreciation, which is one more reason not to delay. Our guide to protecting your money from cedi depreciation explains that dynamic.

Two caveats. First, the RGD's page is internally inconsistent: its step-by-step text still mentions a US$200 application fee while the schedule says US$240. Confirm the current figure at the counter before you pay. Second, the official fees exclude a lawyer or agent's professional fees, any fees for extra classes, and renewal, which carries its own prescribed fee.

Treat the total as a business investment. Put it in your launch budget alongside packaging and signage. If you are raising money to launch a brand, a registered mark is an asset that lenders and investors can see. Our pages on business loans and the Development Bank Ghana's SME lending cover funding options.

Keeping your trademark alive

Registration is not a one-off. You keep your rights by doing three things.

Renew on time. Renew for further ten-year periods by paying the renewal fee. If you miss the deadline, the Act gives a six-month grace period, but only with a surcharge. Set a reminder a year before expiry, because the ten years run from your original filing date.

Use the mark. Anyone with an interest can ask the Registrar to remove a mark that has not been used for five continuous years or longer. That covers use by you or by a licensee, for any of the registered goods or services. The Act allows a defence if special circumstances prevented use and you had no intention of abandoning the mark. Keep dated evidence of use: invoices, labels, adverts and photos of products on shelves.

Record changes. When you sell or transfer a mark, the change must be in writing and filed with the Registrar. It does not affect third parties until it is filed. The same applies to licences: a licence agreement letting a distributor or franchisee use your mark is not valid against third parties until it is filed. The Registrar keeps its contents confidential but records it. If you register a mark jointly, for example with a business partner, section 48 governs how joint owners may use it.

A mark can also be lost if it becomes the common name for the product in the trade through the owner's own acts or inactivity. The High Court can then invalidate it. Stop others from using your brand name as a generic word for the product.

Enforcing your rights against copycats

Registration gives you real tools.

• Civil action. You can sue anyone who uses your registered mark without permission, or whose acts make infringement likely. Your rights also cover similar signs on similar goods where the public may be confused.
• Criminal penalties. Knowingly infringing a registered mark is an offence under section 9(8). The penalty is a fine of up to 250 penalty units, up to a year in prison, or both. Counterfeiting offences under section 26 carry more: up to 500 penalty units, up to two years, or both. They cover forging a mark, falsely applying a deceptive mark, or selling or holding for sale goods with a forged mark. The court can also order the goods forfeited.
• Stopping fakes at the border. Section 28 lets an informant give the Customs Commissioner written notice asking for suspect imports to be detained. The notice must describe the packages, how they are arriving and when. Customs is today part of the GRA. It may ask for a deposit to cover examination costs and security against the costs of detention. The procedure also covers transhipped goods and goods in transit.
• Prima facie evidence. In court, being on the register as owner is prima facie evidence that the registration is valid, so the other side must prove otherwise.

One limit: once goods carrying your mark have been put on the market anywhere with your consent, your registration does not stop them being resold.

Protecting your brand beyond Ghana

If you export or plan to, protection in Ghana does not cover other countries. Ghana joined WIPO's Madrid Protocol, in force for Ghana since 16 September 2008. Madrid lets a brand owner extend a home application or registration to other member countries through one international filing. It also means foreign brand owners can designate Ghana. Ghana declared an extended 18-month period for refusing protection to such designations.

Be careful with advice that an ARIPO regional filing will cover Ghana. Ghana is an ARIPO member, but it is not among the states that have joined ARIPO's Banjul Protocol on marks. For trademark protection in Ghana, file directly at the RGD or designate Ghana through Madrid. A trademark is one line in a wider compliance picture. Registration fees and the licence income a mark earns have tax consequences, so exporters and brand owners should also read our complete guide to tax in Ghana.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a lawyer to register a trademark in Ghana?

Not if you live or run your business in Ghana. The Act only requires representation by a Ghana-resident legal practitioner when your ordinary residence or principal place of business is outside the country. A lawyer or agent is still worth considering for the search, the class choice and any opposition.

How long does a Ghanaian trademark last?

Ten years from the filing date. It can be renewed indefinitely for further ten-year periods, with a six-month grace period on payment of a surcharge if you renew late.

Is my registered business name the same as a trademark?

No. Business names and companies are registered with the Office of the Registrar of Companies. Trademarks are registered with the Registrar-General's Department under Act 664. A business name registration does not give you the exclusive right to a brand for particular goods or services.

Can someone take my brand if I have used it for years but never registered it?

It is a real risk. Ghana effectively works on a first-to-file basis, so another person may register the name first. You could oppose their application within the two-month publication window, or rely on section 5 if your mark is well known. Both routes are harder and costlier than filing early.

What happens if I stop using my registered trademark?

If you, or a licensee, do not use it for any of the registered goods or services for five continuous years, an interested person can apply to have it removed. That will not happen if special circumstances prevented use and you never meant to abandon it.

Are trademark fees charged in dollars or cedis?

The RGD publishes its fees in US dollars (search US$135, application US$240, certification US$240) and states they can be paid in the cedi equivalent. Confirm the current fees and how they apply to extra classes with the RGD before filing.

Reviewed 15 September 2026 against the Trade Marks Act, 2004 (Act 664), the Registrar-General's Department's published trademark procedure and fees, and WIPO's record of Ghana's Madrid Protocol accession. Penalty units are converted to cedis under separate legislation. Confirm current values and fees with the Registrar-General's Department. This is general information, not legal or financial advice.