An International Law Firm Nigeria
Intellectual Property
Currently, IP rights are protected and enforced in
Laws
of the Federation of
Federation
of
The Trademarks, Patents and Designs laws are currently administered by the
Trademarks,
Patents and Designs Registry under the Federal Ministry of Commerce.
The
copyright law is administered by the Nigerian Copyright Commission, which is
under the Federal Ministry of Culture.
The Nigerian IP laws
differ very little from those of any other country.
1.1.
Trade Mark
FILING
OF TRADEMARKS IN
Summary of the Procedure
The application is filed for
examination at the trademark office. If the application is accepted, it will be
published in the Official Journal. The opposition period will be 3 months from
the date of publication in Official Journal. If no opposition(s)
arises, the application will mature to registration and the registration
certificate is issued.
Filing Requirements in
Power of Attorney simply
signed & sealed.
(Special form required)
:: It usually takes
from 20-30 months to complete the registration.[1]
:: Each class should be filed separately.[2]
:: Trademark protection is valid for Seven (7) years.
:: Registration can be renewed indefinitely for further periods
of Fourteen (14) years each at the end of each term of protection.
1.2.
Patent
Filing Of Patent Application In Nigeria
Two types of patent applications can be filed in Nigeria
The priority document for a convention application need not be submitted at the time of filing the application, provided it is submitted within three months after the application is filed. Other documents will be prepared by the local agent. Upon filing the application, a formal examination will be conducted and if the Registrar is satisfied with the documentation, he will issue a Notification of Acceptance; thereafter, the application will proceed sealing and grant. The term of
a patent is twenty years from the filing date. Renewal fees fall due annually
from the first anniversary of the filing date.
The documents required are as
follows:
i. A
petition or request for a patent with the applicant’s name and address (an
address for service in
ii. Letter
of Authority or Power of Attorney
iii. Specification
of the invention including a claim or claims in duplicate
iv. Certified
True Copy of the priority document(s) (where the applicant seeks to avail
himself of a foreign priority in respect of an earlier application made in a
country outside
v.
Where
appropriate, a declaration signed by the true inventor requesting that he be
mentioned as such in the patent and giving his name and address[3]
Please
note that in
1.3.
Design
1.4.
Copyright
[1] Slow processing of applications. This can be due to several factors, including the loss or misplacing of files, the tardy attitude of the personnel in treating an application, lack of technical infrastructures etc
1.
[2]
Registration Classification: Trademarks
Under Nigerian trademarks Act, the problems
concerning their classifications are identified as follows:
(i)
Parts A and B,
(ii)
Third and Fourth
Schedule classifications
(iii)
Classification
within the fourth schedule.
(i)
Parts A
& B
The provisions of Sections 9
and 10 of the Trademarks Act attempt to distinguish between marks registerable
in Part A and those registerable in Part B.Though the operation of sections 9
and 10 of the Trade Mark Act directs the applicant in determining whether to
bring the application under Part A or Part B of the register, the classification
under the sections is indistinct. A mark should be registrable once it is
capable of distinguishing the goods or services in the market place as against
the distinction the sections tries to create to avoid the confusion.
(ii)
The Third
and Fourth Schedule
Further, the application
must also determine in what schedule the application is to be brought. To this
end, goods are classified for registration which are dated before the Act
within the third schedule but with respect
to registrations dated subsequently, classification is done in accordance with
the Fourth Schedule. Despite this, under the provisions of Regulation 6, a mark
that was classified with respect to the Third Schedule can, by application to
the Registrar, be re-classified under the Fourth Schedule. Thus, a
re-classified mark retains its original date of registration. It should be
noted that this procedure may involve the striking out of some of the goods to
which it formerly relates so as to bring it in harmony with the goods classified
under the Fourth Schedule.
(iii)
Classification
With Respect To the Fourth Schedule
The current trend has left
classification of marks under the Third Schedule to be redundant. Thus an
applicant must consider the provisions of the Fourth Schedule to determine the
specific class under which the application may be brought.
One should note that there
are thirty-four different classes under this schedule and there is no
exclusivity in the registration of marks in these classes. To this end, a
single mark may be registered in as many classes as there are goods for which
the mark is, or is
intended to be, associated
and registration in any of these class
constitutes a distinct application.
[3] , some of the provisions need to be amended in order
to make it TRIPS compliant. For instance, an area of concern under the Patent
law is with respect of inventions developed by an employee in the course of
employment. The Patent law provides that
“in the case of an invention made in the course of employment or in the execution
of a contract for the performance of a specific work, the right to a patent in
the invention is vested in the employer or the person who commissioned the
work”. This means that an employee who makes an invention through his own
talent can be deprived from, by his employer, of benefit of claim as the
inventor.
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