Hi,

I am interested in registration of trademarks related to some activities of mine, and all I know about trademark registration in Nigeria is: [I]"Go to the trademark office"[/I]

Encouraged by the success of Prosper's post about incorporation, I have decided to throw the problem to the forum. How do I register business trademarks in Nigeria? About how much does it cost to register a name or logo as a trademark?

Seun.

Any lawyer or agent in the house who can help?

@ seun,

registering a trademark in nigeria is quite a rigorous process. first of all, you fill the trademark forms, you design a bromide and then send it to the registrar of trademarks at abuja; after which you will receive an acknowledgment. people usually stop at this stage, but really after this stage, you start the process of obtaining the certificate.

if you are really interested cos it may cost you more than what you were hoping to pay, just signify your interest on this thread.

i hope i have been able to help.and i'm a lawyer, so you dont think its a scam.

Thanks for the information, Aproko. About how much does it cost, so I can know whether to forget about it.

I have been trying to register some myself and it's really
challenging.
Guess its not very common in Nigeria.
It's all gud

Regards,

@ Seun,

Have you been successful in registering your trademark? I want to register my trademark too. Please tell me how you did yours, if you have done it.

@ others,

Like how much does it cost to register trademark in Nigeria?


, waiting for replies

@seun

send me a P. message we will take from there,
sorry cant have my email up here.

seun you shouldn't be looking at just naija, but EU & US,
you are in the intellectual property business

I found a trademark specialist

Just wanted to share it with others, you can chat with the company online

http://www.marcaria.com

hi All
I am UK based and interested in registering a TM in Nigeria for my company name and Logo, as we are expanding into Ng in January.
Aproko / luvlawyer can you give a price or advice on who I can contact for a price on how to do this?
Thx

I posted a query on this topic last week because I wanted to compare notes. This is the summary of my experience.
You have to go to the Trademark section of Federal Ministry of Commerce where you will provide details of the brand to be trademarked. Documentations required depends on the brand.

A namesearch is conducted to be sure nobody has trademarked the same name before the ministry will proceed with the registration.

On the whole, it takes about 2 months to complete the process and will cost about N15,000. This amount probably include tips (as you can't get any information on the actual cost), this amount is not receipted. It is one of the challenges of doing business in Nigeria.

Hope this helps.

best intellectual property law firm in nigeria
JACKSON ETTI AND EDU.
PLS VISIT WEBSITE FOR MORE INFO
www.jacksonettiandedu.com.


seun contact me. ive got all the details u need!

am sorry for changing the topic, i think you guys should pls give me an insight/demo on how I can post a topic because I need to post a topic

CHECK THE GROUND. THIS POST FELL DOWN!

Ekobase/Seun, you have heard the truth of this matter from Aproko with due respect to all other opinions expressed on this issue. But please permit me to add that TM sometimes span a year, this talk of 15k or 20k will not fly. The folks telling you these will just file the name, collect your money and move on. This stage could be likened to 20%. There is a handy example involving Virgin Soft drinks and one other Virgin bla bla at the Federal High Court Lagos Annex (I will not say more coz the case is still on going). Now what happened was that the other guy did know that Richard Brandson's brands already has something similar to HIS fully "registered". I guess he contacted somebody who probably did name search, file the name collected his money and moved on. From my own view, Richard Brandson's brands will win the case. I am taking pain to say all these so that you will not run into similar error. My advice: walk up to a Lawfirm where they practice T.M and give them Instructions. You get a good job done for you. Otherwise I can do it for you but expensive is an understatement. Aproko where are you?

Seun,

I think Aproko is your best bet, get intouch with her and discuss solid business.

Peace.

omogidi234:

Ekobase/Seun, you have heard the truth of this matter from Aproko with due respect to all other opinions expressed on this issue. But please permit me to add that TM sometimes span a year, this talk of 15k or 20k will not fly. The folks telling you these will just file the name, collect your money and move on. This stage could be likened to 20%. There is a handy example involving Virgin Soft drinks and one other Virgin bla bla at the Federal High Court Lagos Annex (I will not say more because the case is still on going). Now what happened was that the other guy did know that Richard Brandson's brands already has something similar to HIS fully "registered". I guess he contacted somebody who probably did name search, file the name collected his money and moved on. From my own view, Richard Brandson's brands will win the case. I am taking pain to say all these so that you will not run into similar error. My advice: walk up to a Lawfirm where they practice T.M and give them Instructions. You get a good job done for you. Otherwise I can do it for you but expensive is an understatement. Aproko where are you?

I just checked my previous post and didn't see where I offered to do this for anybody so the idea of collecting money and moving on does not arise; thought this forum is all about sharing ideas?

There is no doubt some few lawyers can handle this just that some of us do not see anything wrong walking into a federal establishment to get our business done.

Hope to be back here after I am done with the Ministry of Commerce so we can continue to compare notes.

igbonla, I must commend you for your reply. However, my view on this was/is not to rubbish yours/others. I am not interested in the pay but I believe if we are sharing ideas we should share ones that will not put pple into problem in the future. please Igbonla take the pain and go to FHC and you see cases on TM which all border on the issue I raised earlier. I practice law and I see these things replayed everyday. That is why I said "My advice: walk up to a Lawfirm where they practice T.M and give them Instructions. You get a good job done for you" Igbonla I do not intend any harm. I just need people to get the true positions of things.

The experience of my china patent application

When I first registered a china patent, I went through a series of small twists and turns. I registered my china patent through the internet, first search china patent in the internet. But there is little information about it. In order to counsel a china patent attorney to know the china patent procedure, I phoned a china patent agency that the internet provided. They told me some information about how to apply for a china patent, and then sent me some documents. My utility model patent was inexpensive. I paid for the earnest money, and the spare money would be paid in 10 days later. The agency promised to get my china patent certificate no more than 1 year. All the things seen to follow a rational line. Later some problems came out. They told me that there were another fees. Although the patent application documents had been written, they would not file to the China Patent Office until I paid for another fees. I was angry and repentant. If I complied with their demand, there was another thing through the procedure. So I decided to find another china patent agency. Then I searched another agency named IPsoon Global Agency. The agency had many characteristic services, such as china patent litigation, investment services: “Exam contracts for foreign enterprises to establish branch companies, subsidiary companies, incorporation, separation and relative legal documents; Providing relative professional legal consultation“. But the price was a little high. If there were not any other fees, I would like to pay that. The main reason was that I felt tired at that time. Thank Godness! One year Later, I got the china patent certificate ultimately.

I am a trade mark and intellectual property lawyer. If you really need to register your trademark, contact me privately and i'll tell you the process and how much it truely cost. My mail is barrister_matto@yahoo.com

But one free advise here is that it doesnt take 2 months for it to be totally done for you and it takes almost 2 years for it to be registered in the trademark journal for the public. It is a cumbersome and yet simple process but not that expensive though!

If a trademark is registered abroad, 1)would this registration be valid in Nigeria? May the owner sue for infringement in Nigeria (assuming the infringement occurred in Nigeria)?

Regards

What "Lawyer" said is the Absolute truth and u dont need anything else. U must contact a LAWYER. I AM A LAWYER TOO BUT AM IN ABUJA SO IF U ARE AROUND ABUJA and environ U CAN CONTACT ME TOO. OR HIT ME UP LETS CHAT

hybridsolicitor@yahoo.com

Thanks for the enlightenment, Aproko. I'm also a novice to this. In addition, can I ask - If a product is 'trademarked' outside Nigeria. . . In the UK for example, would the trademark be valid in Nigeria? (I can't imagine that Nestle Foods, Coca-Cola, etc all had to apply for trademarks to their name in Nigeria

)

@Seun and others
I believe in USA there are 2 types or steps
The first step is to apply for trademark within USA. When your application is approved and you've received your certificate, the next step is to now apply for an international trademark. It cost more, but I think your international trademark from USA will cover you in Nigeria.

Trademark has a lot to do with laws, therefore applying for a trademark in Nigeria, a country where we pretty much don't have laws, might end up to waste of money and time.

I think you are better-off applying for international trademark from USA and activate it in Nigeria, just like Coca-Cola and others.

FACT: DO NOT TRY TO APPLY FOR TRADEMARK IN USA BY YOURSELF; GET A LAWYER WHO SPECIALIZES IN THIS FIELD. IT MIGHT COST YOU MORE, BUT IT WILL BE DONE CORRECTLY AT THE FIRST TIME.
AT THE END OF THE DAY YOU WILL SAVE TIME AND MONEY.

This info might not be 100% accurate, please do your research before putting in your application.


Good luck.

Seun, thanks so much for the post on registration of trademarks. As a contribution, i came across a website of a law firm: WizeCounzel Law firm. They are intellectual property attorneys and are involved in Trademark registration and copyright protection. They have quite an extensive write up on the process of registering a trademark. Their web address is: www.wizecounzel.com. I also came across others such as: marcaria.com, jacksonethiandedu.com. Before i was considering handling the process of registering my trademark on my own, but from the discussion so far i think it will be best i do it through an expert. A word of advice though, be careful with all whom you transact with through the internet because there are a lot of fraudsters out there.

How can one find out if therez a trademark on an item before importing a particular product

Apparently for your trademark to be recognized internationally, the country you register in has to be a member of the Madrid Protocol, relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, the you file the trademark under the Madrid agreement you can find this here http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/law/madrid/index.jsp. Nigeria is not a member of the Madrid protocol as of today.

I reckon all major companies coming into Nigeria will most definitely carry out local registration of their trademarks, since Nigeria is not a member and i'm quite sure they would know this.

Just to chip in since the real answer to the main topic has not been fully dealt with, i'm trying to get 2 trademarks registered and the lawyer has billed me 85k each, i'm still shopping to see if i can get it cheaper, she's in Lagos, i'm sure someone in Abuja can do it cheaper.

Also using the ™ has no legal backing it just says you're laying claim to that trademark, usually used when you have started your registration exercise and its in process and does not mean ownership till the process is complete.

I did a trademark registration for an Italian brand of mobile phone in 2002 and it cost me like 40k i think back then.

@Prophercy so are u saying that when u register a trademark, no one can import that product? it sonst make sense though to register a trademark in Nigeria. for example, I import medicines from canada to Nigeria . I have a contract with manufacturers and they cant let any other person import same medicine to Nigeria. so in this case what is the essence of having a trademark?

@Ugoch
The trademark registration does not safeguard who can and cannot import into Nigeria, it only means that name in terms of the words and font type, the design, associated graphics and colours cannot be used to trade. For instance someone decides to use the same name, words font type etc to trade another or the same product as their own within the territory of Nigeria. If your trademark is not registered in Nigeria, then they pretty much can.

With regards to importing your medical supplies from Canada the manufacturer cannot stop anyone importing into Nigeria as they are not the Nigerian customs, but they can refuse to sell to anyone planning to ship to Nigeria, that would come under a different agreement called an exclusive distribution agreement, again for the territory of Nigeria.

The trick is, you're left to enforce this by yourself because pretty much anyone that gets the same drug from another part of the world that Canada sells to can bring it into Nigeria and trade. This you can counter with the proper marketing strategies (my field of endeavor by the way)

I had this same issue in 2001 when i imported phones, there was a dealer from Ghana sending phones to Nigeria and he was selling them, even though i had the exclusive distribution agreement signed, he was getting used phones from a dealer in Italy and sending them into Nigeria, and i could do nothing without spending a lot of money to mobilize the proper authorities to block him and seize his stocks and even that is not without some serious legal battles.

But if you have your prices right and know how to establish yourself in the market, then you're ok since you're buying direct from the manufacturer.

Now the essence of having the trademark registered is quite simple. If your products gain a serious market share in the future and its well known, someone else can make the same thing here (or from lets say india or china) and theoretically call it the same name, same logo design, same trade mark and use it without any hassle if your trademark is not registered locally. (i'm sure a lot can be argued out in court if this happens, but why risk it getting to this level). This is like taking advantage of all your effort to establish your brand and riding on the waves you created and eventually running you out of business.

So the bottom line is, if you have a long term plan for this product in Nigeria, register the trademark now!

@Prophecy, Thank you very much. Your advise is highly appreciated. So that means that if I have up to 5 products in my portfolio, it will advisable to register them seperatly in trademark, or does the trademark include me registering my company name ( eg: silicon pharmaceuticals etc)?

secondly, am not based in Nigeria, do you reckon pharmaceutical importation are lucrative in Nigerian market?

@Ugoch
Usually there's one trademark like the manufacturers brand name such is Pfizer, Beechams etc, then there's also the brand name of the drug like Panadol, Ampiclox etc. If you have plans to really grow this business to the max, you would register all respective trademarks from the manufacturers logo to the brand names and logos. If you will be marketing under your own name, then you register your own trademark.

I hope you know you will need to pay some money to NAFADAC for every product you import and get necessary approvals.

The answer to the question of whether the products would sell in Nigeria is, anything will sell in Nigeria if the price is right, it works even to the barest minimum, as long as manufacturing output in Nigeria remains low.

You need to carry out a thorough market research and plan your entry strategy properly.

I was under the impression that you have started, if you haven't then your problem now isn't really with trademarks just yet, your main issue is pricing and NAFDAC approvals, signing an agreement with the manufacturer is the easy part, there's very stiff competition in that industry.

The Pharmaceuticals industry is relatively well developed and growing with lots of foreign companies represented here, a whole lot of indigenous guys, and too many trading companies importing especially from India where production costs are very looooowwwww!

Private message me and I can give you some marketing tips for free if you really want to do this, nothing is impossible but jump in eyes wide open!

@Prophecy, abeg I dnt know how to inbox on this site. You might wanna have my email: charlieswinedistribution@y7mail.com I can ring you if u can forward me your number. Cheers buddy!