– Industrial Property Act, 2001, as amended up to Act No. 18 of 2018 (Revised Edition 2020).
– Industrial Property Regulations, 2002 (Revised Edition 2020).
– Industrial Property Tribunal Rules, 2002 (Revised Edition 2020).

Applicant: any person (individual or corporate) who makes a new model may apply. 

Criteria of registrability: the invention must be new and industrially applicable; only models which can be utilized in industry, agriculture, education services or environmental conservation and which relate to shape, structure or assemblages of articles are entitled to utility model registration.

Novelty: models which were publicly known or publicly worked in Kenya prior to the filing application of the utility model, or models described in publications distributed in Kenya prior to the application of a utility model, and models which can easily be made by a person having ordinary technical know-how in the field in which such model belongs, shall not be granted registration. However, a utility model may be considered to be novel even though the model has been publicly worked or described in a publication in Kenya, if such working of the model or publication was unintentional, or was as a result of presenting the model at a research meeting held by a scientific organization or at a government exhibition or exhibition in a foreign country with the approval of the government.

Not registrable: models which serve solely to obtain a technical result and models contrary to public order or morality.

Series applications: not provided for; only one utility model shall be the subject of one utility model application.

Filing requirements for an application:
1. Request to the Managing Director of the Kenyan Industrial Property Institute, stating the name of the applicant, proof of nationality, domicile, place of business and, in the case of a legal entity, the name of its representative to be included;
2. Name, domicile or place of business of the agent (if any);
3. Name, domicile or place of business of the inventor;
4. Specification and, if necessary, drawings which set out the title of the model, brief explanation of the drawings, or specimen of the article embodying the model;
5. Detailed explanation of the model and scope of the utility model registration claim; purpose, construction, function and effect of the model;
6. The prescribed application fee;
7. Power of attorney if the applicant is represented by an agent.

Note: there is no requirement for an agent for an applicant whose ordinary residence or principal place of business is in Kenya. However, for an applicant whose residence or place of business is outside Kenya, the applicant must be represented by an agent.

Electronic filing: not available.

Electronic signatures: both wet and electronic signature are accepted. However, it must be valid advanced electronic signature i.e. an advanced electronic signature issued by a Certification Service Provider (CSP) who is duly licensed by the Communications Authority of Kenya.

Examination is substantially the same as for “Patents of Invention”.

Conversion from/into a patent application: possible. At any time before the grant or rejection of a patent, an applicant may convert his application into an application for a utility model certificate, which shall be accorded the filing date of the initial application. Conversely, at any time before the grant or rejection of a utility model certificate, an applicant may convert his application into an application for a patent, which shall be accorded the filing date of the initial application. An application may not be converted more than once.

Duration – extension: ten years from the date of filing of the application, not renewable.

Assignment: possible. 

Infringement: acts of manufacturing, using, selling, importing or distributing commercially the things to be used exclusively for the manufacture of the product relating to a utility model registration shall be deemed to be an infringement of the utility model right.