<p>North Sudan continues to be governed by the earlier Trademark Law through the national Trademark Office.</p>
<p>Unfortunately to date there are no laws in Southern Sudan regulating  Intellectual Property and needless to say the Trademark Laws of North  Sudan no longer prevail.&nbsp; The Ministry of Justice in Southern Sudan has  issued directives to officials at the Trademark Office that they adopt  certain procedures known as the &ldquo;Reservation of a Trademark&rdquo; until  issuance of a trademark law.&nbsp; The implication is that Southern Sudan  follows a Cautionary Notice approach to the protection of trade marks at  the present time. &nbsp;</p>
<p>At present procedures to be followed in respect of the &ldquo;Reservation of a Trademark&rdquo; are as follow:&nbsp;</p>
<ol>
<li>A written application needs to be submitted to the Registrar  indicating the trademark to be protected, as well as prints of the mark  in question.</li>
<li>The Registrar will conduct a search in the database of the Registry to ascertain whether the mark is registered or not.</li>
<li>If the relevant mark is not registered, the mark will be &ldquo;reserved&rdquo;  in the applicant&rsquo;s name, and no other person will be allowed to use the  said mark.</li>
</ol>
<p>It is also to be noted that no official fees have been fixed at this time for the &ldquo;Reservation of a Trademark&rdquo; procedure.</p>
<p>As a result of the absence of a specific law dealing with the  protection of trademarks in Southern Sudan we are unable to comment on  the legal effect or value of the &ldquo;Reservation of a Trademark&rdquo; procedure.</p>