At Independence Day celebrations on 19 April 2018, King Mswati III announced that the country's name, Kingdom of Swaziland, would change to Kingdom of Eswatini. This name change was made official by Legal Notice No. 80 of 2018 published in the Gazette of 11 May 2018. This Notice is deemed to have come into force on 19 April 2018. The Notice further provides that reference to Swaziland in any written law, international agreement or legal document shall be read and construed as a reference to Eswatini.

The validity of this Notice/name change has, however, been challenged by the Institute for Democracy and Leadership (Ideal) and its director, Mr Maseko. They have brought an application against the King's decision. The application essentially argues that the name change is not in line with the constitution of the country, as citizens of Swaziland were not involved in the decision-making process. The constitution prescribes legislative processes which were not followed; instead the name change was merely announced during the Independence Day celebrations.

It is unclear whether the application will be granted, but we will be keeping a close eye on this case and will report developments. From a trade mark point of view, we understand that the Registry has not yet published official trade mark documents reflecting the new name but will do so once current stocks are depleted. Until we have confirmation from the Registrar that new documents lodged with the Registry are to reflect the new name, we shall continue using the current official documents, reflecting the Kingdom of Swaziland.

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