Legal Hurdle for Opposition Coalition 'NASA' as Acronym Registered to Another Entity

The opposition coalition NASA may have to change its name after an NGO registered a trademark under the same acronym and moved to court to block the Registrar of Political Parties from registering a political entity by that name.

Northern Advocacy for Sustainable Agriculture (NASA) is an entity that was registered as an NGO in 2016, and was just issued the trademark ‘NASA’ by the Kenya Industrial Property Institute on Friday. The NGO now wants the political coalition led by Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka, Musalia Mudavadi, and Moses Wetangula to be prevented from registering a political party named ‘NASA’, saying this will be an infringement on their trademark.

The NGO wants the High Court to further declare that only the NGO can use that acronym.