Trademark Registeration In Nigeria (all Your Questions Answered In A Simple Way)

My e-mail has been jammed by nairalanders seeking to know how to register a trademark in Nigeria and other ancillary questions. So i am going to help you clear out the rough edges once and for all. Majority of the questions asked are as follows:

A. WHAT ARE THE GENERAL REQUIREMENTS NEEDED TO REGISTER A TRADEMARK?:

1. Name search so that it doesnt conflict with any other trademark name:

This means that you have to choose a minimum of 3 names first before your trade mark application can be accessed in the trademark registery. E.g if you want to start a water bottling company and you have already designed the bottle and scientifically distilled the water and all you need is a catchy name and logo to identify your product, you need to select a name for the brand and logo. If you end up choosing 3 names which include (EVA-LINA, SWANIPA AND GOSSYER), The three names will be automatically rejected because Eva lina sounds similar to EVA Natural water, Swanipa, is similar to SWAN water and Gossypa is a knock -off of Gossy water.

So the name search is very important for a trademark to commence, so in most situations, companies fashion out 3-6 names that would probably survive registeration. (be creative and think out of the box). Also the other reasons names and trademarks are rejected include: Descriptiveness, Deceptiveness, Public Policy, Immorality, Similarly Registered Mark are common grounds on which trademarks application are refused.

Also the colour, lines and designs chosen by you as your logo should be distinct unless it would be rejected. E.g the addias famous trademark logo is 3 black stripes drawn in a vertical way. If you now use 2 single stripes in a vertical way and say you want to use it for a sport footwear as your logo, it will be rejected because Addidas 3 stripes has a priority over any other company that wants to use that kind of logo based on its distinctiveness. (So be creative once more when choosing marks, shapes, colour or objects as your logo)
 

2. The symbol or design e.g the nike swoosh sign or microsoft logo ( It must be drawn on a paper or thick transparent cloth also known as a bromide):

What this means is that after you have conceptualized the name and the logo for your product, before it can be accepted for registeration, it must be drawn on a paper. E.g lets say you went to a creative graphic designer to design a new logo for you, the printed version in colour or black or white should be reproduced in so many copies between 6-20 (Sorry i can't remember the amount again ) and it would be transfered to a thick transparent cloth called a bromide. The aim of this is to make sure the officials at the trademark office effectively access the originality of the logo and check whether it is conflicting with previously trademarked logos that might be similar. They also keep these bromides as a reference point for records.

 

3. Agents letter or form of authorization to file the trademark on your behalf (Usually done by lawyers):

This letter or Agent form of authorization is a major requirement of the trademark office for the registeration of the logo as a trademark. This is used to weed out those riff raffs that come around the trademark office to register a trademark in a false and dubious way and end up fraudulently decieving applicants off their money. It is a form that spells out the following:

Your name, nationality, address, passport photograph (2), company or individual registering it, the International class of goods to be registered (This International classes of goods means products and goods have been classified into various departments such as chemicals, soaps, detergents, insecticides etc as either Class 9 or shoes, jeans, shirts, trainers etc as either Class 5. It provides for a proper heading of the goods and under what class the logo should be classified under so as to make for easier registeration world wide), and finally a letter from the applicant to the agent (Mostly trademark lawyers) granting him the permission to register the trademark on behalf of you the applicant.

4. Filing fees and Stamp duties:

After the following requirements above has been thoroughly researched and scrutinized, the Trademark registery would now access the required fees to be paid and stamped accordingly. Evidence of the apyment of filing fees and stamping is a major requirement before it can be registered.

5. Cost of Filing:

I know this is the major question your interested in but to be frank, it is not fixed because it continues to fluctuate but be rest assured that it isnt more than #80,000 to #100,000 depending on what you need to trademark (Thats including legal fees and Filing fees and processing Fees. Any other lawyer charging more than that is pushing it). The reason for the legal fees added is because of the chaotic way Nigerians do things that ought to be done in a very easy way. Today most western countries do their trademark applications via online but in Naija, you have to first hustle and find your "connection guy" inside the trademark office  that would quickly help you do the name search asap, then hustle again with phone calls, settlement and transportation to the trademark office to search again if the logo does not contradict any form of deceptive practice. This could take weeks for them to respond because they might be telling you that "Oga never approve am yet. We still de research, come back next week" or we misplaced the passport photographs or when the Agent authorization form reached abuja, they discovered that the applicant did not sign properly so they are sending back to cross river so as to start the process all over again and a whole host of nonsense that is not worth the stress atimes (But wetin we go do now? Na naija we dey, lol )  


6: How long does it take to register the trademark:

don't be decieved that it takes 3 months. Approximately it takes 2-3 years to obtain registration from date of filing the application due to the above enumerated delays. The good thing is that once the name search has been approved and the logo has been approved within 3-6 months, you can start using the trademark pending the final certificate that would be issued to you later on. Once the registration process has begun, the trademark is presumed to be yours. The down side of it is that until you have that certificate, you cannot claim priority of that trademark over anybody and the law states that the trademark certificate is the ultimate proof of ownership but these days due to the tough economic terrain in Nigeria, the registeration procedure could at least show that you have started a concrete procedure to own it and it is not due to your fault that you don't have the certificate.

The advantage of owning a trademark for your business is that you can use that logo or name as your branding name that could survive for generations. Think Microsoft, tastee fried chicken, dangote, Union Bank etc. You can easily have it on your letter headed papers, envelopes, staff uniforms, cars and everyother thing required to brand your business without having to spend thousands of Naira for extra P.R or publicity stunts to boost your image. The human mind is programmed to remember logos and trademarks more often better than names. Till you die, you will forever remember the NIKE Swoosh Logo.

Also the trademark has to be advertised in the trademark journal so that anyone that needs to oppose the registration process can raise an objection within 2 months it is published due to conflict of interest, public immorality or deceptiveness. Its after the advertisment that the process is complete and if no opposition, your certificate is on the way, Pronto!!!

7. My trademark is already known in europe and the Americas, must i still register it in Nigeria?:

Pertaining to the above question, The answer is Yes. The reason is because Nigeria although being a member of the Nice convention that ratified all trademarks done internationally as binding on every country that is a signatory to that treaty, Nigeria is still backwards in terms of obtaining records of trademarks registered internationally and it poses a problem trying to collate all the registered trademarks done in almost 140 countries except trademarks that are extremely famous and recognized internationally such as coke, nike, HP, Yahoo etc.

 
So to avoid this problem, the trademark has to be registered in Nigeria all over again. The advantage of this is that if you register it in Nigeria, you gain priorietary rights over everyone in Nigeria who intends to register it. E.g, its possible for you to say you are a representative of MacDonald in Nigeria having bought the franchise to be the sole representative of the fast food company and from nowhere, somebody comes out and claims that he is also the sole representative of MacDonald in Nigeria and goes as far as showing that he has registered the Golden Arch Trademark in Nigeria. That person will have priorietary rights to use that trademark in Nigeria over you. So it is advisable to register the trademark and avoid yourself further hassles and legal tussles that are totally unecessary and could be easily avoided. Microsoft Nigeria, Dunlop Nigeria, Ariel Nigeria etc all registered their trademarks in Nigeria despite the fact that they are internationally known products and easily recognizable.

8. How long is a trademark valid?:

The trademark is valid for 7 years from the date of application, renewable for further periods of 14 years.  
  
 
I. When can your Trademark be removed by the Trademark office:

It is necessary to note that a trademark may be taken off the register in any of the following circumstances:

i)non use, on the request of any person concerned, if it can be established that the mark was registered without any bona fide intention to use, and there has in fact been bona fide use of the trademark;

ii) it may be removed for non use during a continuous period of at least five years during which the trademark was registered.

iii)If the entry has been made in the register without sufficient cause.

iv)If an entry remains wrongly on the register

v)Non compliance to the  registrar’s statutory notice to renew by the registered proprietor


9. I am into services and not products, can i still register my services as a Trademark?:

Nope, its no longer called a trademark registeration for services but a Service mark which is being registerable now. A service mark is meant for companies that do not produce or deal with tangible goods but rely mostly on their services as their key products e.g consulting companies, employment agencies, advertising etc


Hope i have been able to answer your frequent questions on trademark registeration finally and if i get more info, i'll let ya know.

Cheers!

Impressive information, Kudos to d poster