IP enforcement and anti-counterfeiting: ex parte provisional measures decided within three working days, seizure and destruction, damages and account of profits, the right of information, customs suspension of counterfeit imports and the 10-working-day deadline to sue, the Commercial Court, criminal offences with tenfold corporate fines, and cyber-squatting

The enforcement toolkit in the 2024 law

Title IV of Law N° 055/2024 of 20/06/2024 on the protection of intellectual property (the IP Law), in force since 31 July 2024, gives right holders a complete set of remedies in one place: provisional measures (Articles 354 to 357), corrective measures, damages and information orders (Articles 358 to 362), border measures by customs (Articles 363 to 370), measures ordered by courts against infringing goods (Articles 371 and 372), and criminal offences (Articles 373 to 382). Each right also carries its own civil action: for marks under Article 203, for patents under Article 37, for designs, utility models and layout-designs in parallel provisions, and for unfair competition, including misuse of secret information, under Article 277.

The starting point is registration. Article 253 gives exclusive rights over industrial property only once it is registered, so an owner who has not registered a mark, patent or design in Rwanda generally cannot use these tools, save through the well-known mark and unfair competition rules described in The IP law and trade marks. Copyright needs no registration (Article 283), but an RDB registration certificate is useful evidence of title. Most enforcement is driven by the right holder: there is no general IP inspectorate, and customs action ex officio depends on officers recognising goods as counterfeit.

Which court, and how a case starts

Under Article 81(10°) of Law N° 30/2018 of 02/06/2018 determining the jurisdiction of courts, the Commercial Court (Urukiko rw'Ubucuruzi) hears at first instance "disputes related to intellectual property, including trade marks and names". The same court decides invalidation actions against marks (Article 200) and patents (Article 34), so a defendant sued for infringement can be expected to counterclaim for invalidity. Appeals lie to the Commercial High Court. The procedure and timescales are explained in Commercial litigation step by step.

Arbitration is possible for contractual IP disputes, such as royalty claims under a licence, and is often preferable where the counterparty is the licensee; it cannot bind third-party infringers or produce a customs or criminal remedy. Licence and distribution agreements should therefore pair an arbitration clause for contract disputes with an express reservation of the right to seek interim and infringement relief from the Rwandan courts, as discussed in Arbitration law and KIAC.

Provisional measures: urgent orders within three working days

On the request of an industrial property title holder, a copyright or related rights holder, or a licensee, the competent court may order a provisional measure to prevent an infringement from occurring or to preserve evidence of an alleged infringement (Article 354). The court may act without hearing the defendant where three conditions are met: any delay is likely to cause irreparable harm to the right holder or to the evidence; reasonably available evidence shows that the applicant is the right holder and that its right is being infringed or that infringement is imminent; and the applicant provides security or an equivalent assurance sufficient to protect the defendant and prevent abuse (Article 355(1)). The court must decide within three working days of receiving the complaint, and where it acts ex parte it must notify the parties without delay (Article 355(2)). The amount of security is to be fixed by Ministerial Order (Article 355(3)); no such Order had been located at 10 October 2026, so the court sets security case by case.

The defendant may ask the court to review an ex parte measure within 15 days of notification, and the court, after hearing both parties, confirms, modifies or revokes it within two working days of receiving the request (Article 356). The applicant must then move quickly on the merits: if it has not started proceedings leading to a decision on the merits within 31 days of notification of the measure, the defendant may ask the court to revoke it (Article 357). In practice an applicant should file the merits claim together with, or immediately after, the provisional application, and should have its evidence of title (registration certificates, recorded licences, assignments) and of infringement (test purchases, photographs, invoices, notarised screenshots) ready before it applies.

Final remedies: cessation, destruction, damages and information

On a finding of infringement of industrial property, the court may order the infringer to stop releasing and advertising the goods; order the goods to be disposed of outside the channels of commerce, without compensation, so as to avoid harm to the right holder; order materials and instruments used to make them to be disposed of in the same way; and order seizure, forfeiture or destruction of the goods and the materials (Article 358). Simply removing a counterfeit mark is not enough, save in exceptional cases, to allow the goods back into commerce (Article 358(b)). For copyright the court may order cessation and the seizure, forfeiture, destruction or disposal of infringing copies, packaging, equipment and business papers, but not of copies acquired by third parties in good faith (Article 359). Under Articles 371 and 372 the court may also order goods infringing rights protected in Rwanda to be disposed of outside the Rwandan market, suspend the commercial activity concerned or order destruction, after weighing proportionality and the interests of third parties.

Damages are available where the infringer knew or had reasonable grounds to know that it was infringing, and the court may alternatively or additionally order it to hand over the profits it made (Article 360(1) and (2)). A claimant who sues in bad faith must compensate the defendant (Article 360(3)). The court may order the infringer to disclose the identity of third parties involved in producing or distributing the infringing goods or services and their distribution channels, the right of information (Article 361), which is often more valuable than damages against a small retailer because it leads to the importer. In a process patent case the burden shifts: if the product is new, or there is a substantial likelihood it was made by the patented process and the owner cannot discover the process used, an identical product is presumed to have been made by the patented process unless the defendant proves otherwise, with protection for the defendant's trade secrets (Article 362).

Border measures: stopping counterfeits at customs

The Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA), as customs authority, may suspend clearance and release into free circulation of goods on the written request of a right holder with valid grounds to suspect the import of counterfeit goods, or on its own initiative (Article 363(1)). It may require the applicant to provide adequate evidence and a description detailed enough for officers to recognise the goods (Article 363(2)). Goods are counterfeit for this purpose if they infringe a registered mark or geographical indication, are unauthorised copies infringing copyright or related rights, or would otherwise infringe an IP right if imported or circulated (Article 364), so the procedure covers patents, designs and trade secrets as well as marks and copyright.

Customs must notify the suspension to the right holder and the importer within five working days of its decision (Article 365). It may let both sides inspect the goods and take samples for testing, and must tell the right holder the identity of the owner, importer or consignee and the quantity of goods (Article 366). Suspension requires security or an equivalent assurance covering customs' costs and compensation to the importer if no infringement is found; where customs acted of its own motion, the right holder must provide the security within 10 working days of notification or the goods are released (Article 367). The amount is to be fixed by Ministerial Order (Article 367(4)), which had not been located.

The critical deadline is in Article 368: the applicant must inform customs, within 10 working days after being served notice of the suspension, that it has started proceedings before the competent court or obtained a provisional measure prolonging the suspension; otherwise the goods are released once other formalities are complete. For designs, patents, layout-designs and trade secrets the importer may obtain release on posting security sufficient to protect the right holder if the period expires without a court decision (Article 368(3)), and if the applicant fails to start a civil action within 14 days of the suspension, the security is released (Article 368(4)). Customs and its staff are not liable for actions taken in compliance with the procedure (Article 369). Two categories are excluded altogether: small quantities of goods of a non-commercial nature, and goods in transit through Rwanda (Article 370). Customs procedures more generally are covered in Customs and EAC trade.

Criminal offences and penalties

Chapter II of Title IV creates IP offences prosecuted under the general criminal procedure. The central offence is in Article 373: any person who, intentionally and for commercial purposes, uses intellectual property without the owner's consent by infringing protected copyright or related rights, by producing, selling, offering for sale or rent, owning or importing infringing goods, or by using another person's mark, is liable to imprisonment of three to five years and a fine of FRW 3,000,000 to FRW 5,000,000. Performing or publishing a work in a forged manner and fraudulently using an author's name or distinctive sign each carry three to five years and FRW 7,000,000 to FRW 10,000,000 (Articles 374 and 375). Knowingly selling counterfeit products is punishable by a fine of FRW 300,000 to FRW 500,000 (Article 376), and broadcasting or communicating a protected work to the public without authorisation by a fine of FRW 1,000,000 to FRW 2,000,000 (Article 377).

Granting another person the right to perform a work without the owner's authorisation, or acting under false authorisation, carries one to two years and FRW 500,000 to FRW 1,000,000 (Article 378). Stealing or fraudulently using "a formula of invention" carries three to five years and FRW 7,000,000 to FRW 10,000,000 (Article 379), which gives criminal teeth to trade secret protection, and an act of unfair competition with respect to intellectual property is punishable by a fine of FRW 7,000,000 to FRW 10,000,000 (Article 380). A corporate body or legal entity convicted of any of the offences in Articles 373 to 376 and 378 to 380 pays ten times the fine provided (Article 381), and the court may also order seizure, destruction or confiscation of items used to commit the offence (Article 382). A right holder starts the process with a complaint to the investigation authorities, supported by the same evidence it would use in civil proceedings.

Online infringement, domain names and platforms

Law N° 60/2018 of 22/8/2018 on prevention and punishment of cyber crimes adds remedies for online infringement. It applies to offences committed abroad with effects in Rwanda (Article 2). Cyber-squatting, acquiring a domain name in bad faith to profit, mislead, damage reputation or deprive others of registering it, where the name is identical, similar or confusingly similar to an existing registered trade mark or to another person's name, or is acquired without authorisation, is punishable by one to two years' imprisonment and a fine of FRW 1,000,000 to FRW 3,000,000 (Article 27). A service provider notified of data or activity infringing the rights of a third party, or of unlawful material, commits an offence if it fails to act on the take-down notification, punishable by a fine of FRW 1,000,000 to FRW 3,000,000 (Article 50); a business entity convicted of an offence under that law is liable to a fine of 30% to 70% of the profits received in the accounting period of the year in which the offence was committed (Article 51), and the court may order confiscation and closure of the premises (Article 52). A right holder confronting a counterfeit online store should therefore send a documented notice to the hosting platform or payment service, preserve the evidence, and combine the takedown with the civil and criminal routes. Article 222 of the IP Law separately bars use of a second-level domain name that is identical or similar to, or a translation of, a mark registered or well known in Rwanda.

Online sellers are also subject to the e-commerce rules in Law N° 011/2026 of 26/02/2026 relating to competition and consumer protection, under which online intermediaries must keep the content they carry lawful (Article 45), and the Rwanda Inspectorate, Competition and Consumer Protection Authority (RICA) licenses e-commerce operators; see E-commerce, fintech and AI.

Enforcement in practice

The United States Department of State's 2026 Investment Climate Statement for Rwanda reports that counterfeit goods, including counterfeit pharmaceuticals, reach the Rwandan market, that re-exports within the East African Community complicate action, and that investors have in the past complained of slow registration and enforcement. Rwanda's reliance on imports through regional corridors means that border action is the most effective lever, but the Article 370 exclusion of goods in transit leaves goods passing through Rwanda to neighbouring markets outside the customs procedure, and the right holder must then act in the destination country.

Three practical points follow. First, enforcement is only as good as the registrations behind it: register marks and designs in every relevant class, record licences so that licensees can act under Article 354, and keep certificates to hand. Second, build the evidence before acting, because the three-working-day court timetable and the 10-working-day customs deadline leave no time to gather it afterwards. Third, use the right of information under Article 361 to move from retailers to importers, and combine civil action with a criminal complaint where the infringer is a company, since the tenfold corporate fine under Article 381 changes the economics of settlement. Where counterfeits are also unsafe, such as medicines or electrical goods, the product regulators, including the Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority and the Rwanda Standards Board, are a parallel route worth raising alongside IP proceedings.

Stopping a counterfeit shipment at the border

1. Prepare the fileRegistration certificates, recorded licences, a description and photographs of genuine and counterfeit goods, and known importers, routes and HS codes (Article 363(2)).
2. Request suspensionApply in writing to RRA Customs with valid grounds for suspicion and offer security or an equivalent assurance (Articles 363 and 367).
3. Receive the noticeCustoms notifies the right holder and importer within five working days of suspending the goods (Article 365); diarise the date of service at once.
4. Inspect and sampleAsk to inspect and take samples, and obtain the identity of the importer, consignee and quantities (Article 366). If customs acted of its own motion, post security within 10 working days (Article 367(3)).
5. Go to courtFile in the Commercial Court for a provisional measure, decided within three working days (Article 355), and on the merits, then inform customs within 10 working days of the notice (Article 368(1)).
6. Obtain final reliefSeek destruction or disposal outside commerce, damages or profits and an information order (Articles 358 to 361, 372), and consider a criminal complaint under Articles 373 and 381.