Uncategorized

PATENT REGISTRATION IN NIGERIA – PART 2 RECENT POST Frequently Asked Questions About Patents in Nigeria December 11, 2023 Five Things You Need to Know About Trademarks November 5, 2020 Procedure For Trade Mark Registration in Nigeria November 5, 2020 REGISTER A TRADEMARK ADDRESS 33 Cavendish Square London W1G 0PW BOOK AN APPOINTMENT Please contact us by phone or via the online form to set an appointment. thank you! +234 1264 3024 THE APPLICATION TO THE PATENTS REGISTRAR An application to the Patents Registrar shall consist of: A request for a patent signed by the applicant or his agent; containing the applicant’s full name and address. If the address is outside Nigeria, there should be an address for service within Nigeria; A specification, including claims in duplicate; Plans and drawings, if any, in duplicate; A declaration signed by the true inventor requesting that he be mentioned as such in the patent and giving his name and address; Signed power of attorney or authorization of agent if the application is made by an agent; Evidence of payment of the prescribed fee. For PCT or Conventional patents, the applicant shall: Append to his application a written declaration showing:1. The date and number of the earlier application;2. The country in which the earlier application was made; and3. The name of the person who made the earlier application;4. Furnish the Registrar with a copy of the earlier application 5.  5. 5. Certified by the IP Office of the foreign convention country. Learn more about our trademark registration OFFICIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF APPLICATION Upon filing the application, the Registrar will issue a filing receipt to the applicant, acknowledging that the application has been filed and received at the Registry. The said date is considered to be the official filing date of the patent. The Acknowledgment Notice bears the title of the patent, the name of the applicant and that of the agent. Such a document is generally issued within one or two weeks with the help of any of the Intellectual Property Law Firms in Nigeria. You can also read: Patent registration in Nigeria – Part 1 – Intellectual Property EXAMINATION OF THE APPLICATION BY THE REGISTRAR The Patent is then examined to ensure its conformity with the provisions of the Act. If the prescribed requirements are satisfied, the patent will be registered without further examination by the issuance of an Acceptance Notice to the applicant. GRANT OF THE PATENT Upon the grant of a patent, the Registrar will issue to the applicant the Letters Patent (certificate of registration of patent). The certificate will bear the relevant number, the name, and domicile of the patentee, the dates of the patent application and the grant, the title of the invention and the period of its validity, and the number and date of the application on which a claim of foreign priority is based. Moreover, you can take the guidance of any of the Patent and Trademark attorneys for this process. REGISTRATION AND PUBLICATION Following the grant of the patent, the Registrar will: Enter the particulars of the grant in the Register, and Publish a notification of the grant in the Federal Gazette. DURATION AND LAPSE OF PATENT Patents expire after 20 years from the date of filing of the relevant patent application. The law provides that a patent shall lapse if the patent holder fails to pay the prescribed annual fees after a grace period of 6 months following the year from which such fees are due. Register a Trademark Schedule An Appointment Request Quote RECENT POST Frequently Asked Questions About Patents in Nigeria December 11, 2023 Five Things You Need to Know About Trademarks November 5, 2020 Procedure For Trade Mark Registration in Nigeria November 5, 2020 REGISTER A TRADEMARK ADDRESS 33 Cavendish Square London W1G 0PW BOOK AN APPOINTMENT Please contact us by phone or via the online form to set an appointment. thank you! +234 1264 3024

COPYRIGHT PROTECTION IN NIGERIA (III) RECENT POST Frequently Asked Questions About Patents in Nigeria December 11, 2023 Five Things You Need to Know About Trademarks November 5, 2020 Procedure For Trade Mark Registration in Nigeria November 5, 2020 REGISTER A TRADEMARK ADDRESS 33 Cavendish Square London W1G 0PW BOOK AN APPOINTMENT Please contact us by phone or via the online form to set an appointment. thank you! +234 1264 3024 Having discussed the framework for copyright protection in part one and part two, we shall now look at the protection afforded by copyright and the steps involved in registering copyright under the guidance of a Patent Attorney in Nigeria. Read the brief article on the framework for copyright protection in Nigeria. Learn more about our trademark registration  COPYRIGHT PROTECTION Copyright protection is essentially territorial in nature. Nigeria’s membership to certain international copyright treaties and conventions affords protection to Nigerian citizens and entities in those territories which are members of the same international agreements, such as the Berne Convention. RIGHTS OF AUTHORS/COPYRIGHT OWNERS The rights bestowed upon authors or copyright owners are devised into moral and economic rights. The former type includes the right to be acknowledged in any use made of the work and to prevent any derogatory use, alteration, distortion, or mutilation of the same. On the other hand, economic rights refer to the right to earn a profit from the work by determining the conditions under which the work is commercialized. The author or copyright owner may thus authorize or prohibit the reproduction, recording, broadcasting, translation, or distribution of the work. INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT If the copyright of the work is infringed, the author or the copyright owner may request the infringer to stop the infringement and to pay adequate compensation for the use of the work. The former may also offer a license to the infringer and propose a business relationship. If the infringer ignores the requests or fails to compensate for the use of the work, the author or owner of the copyright may file a lawsuit at the Federal High Court to seek damages and obtain an injunction to restrain the infringer from continuing the acts of infringement. You can also read: Areas of Practice and Intellectual Property Law firm works on COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION Copyright protection is automatic upon the creation of the work. Therefore, copyright registration is not a precondition for copyright protection. Nonetheless, the Nigerian Communications Commission (“NCC”) has instituted a voluntary copyright registration scheme which aims at enabling authors and right owners to notify the commission of the creation and existence of their works.   THE NEED FOR COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION The main benefits of registering a copyright with the NCC are the following: It forms an independent source of verifying data in respect of the work or its author to the public. The certificate of acknowledgment issued by the NCC is in itself prima facie evidence of the facts of the case. It provides a depository for preserving original copies of works notified. The notification database holding the information and the data provides reliable rights management information to the public and prospective licensees to the work.   REGISTERING FOR A COPYRIGHT An individual or an entity may apply for registration online or physically through an agent to any office of the NCC’s office in Africa. You can take the help of a Patent Litigation Attorney in Nigeria from a reputed law firm like Tejulaw in the process of copyright registration. The application should include a completed registration form, two copies of the work, and evidence of payment of the prescribed fee. Register a Trademark Schedule An Appointment Request Quote RECENT POST Frequently Asked Questions About Patents in Nigeria December 11, 2023 Five Things You Need to Know About Trademarks November 5, 2020 Procedure For Trade Mark Registration in Nigeria November 5, 2020 REGISTER A TRADEMARK ADDRESS 33 Cavendish Square London W1G 0PW BOOK AN APPOINTMENT Please contact us by phone or via the online form to set an appointment. thank you! +234 1264 3024

COPYRIGHT PROTECTION IN NIGERIA (IV) RECENT POST Frequently Asked Questions About Patents in Nigeria December 11, 2023 Five Things You Need to Know About Trademarks November 5, 2020 Procedure For Trade Mark Registration in Nigeria November 5, 2020 REGISTER A TRADEMARK ADDRESS 33 Cavendish Square London W1G 0PW BOOK AN APPOINTMENT Please contact us by phone or via the online form to set an appointment. thank you! +234 1264 3024 Having discussed the protection afforded by copyright and the steps involved in registering copyright in the first three parts, we shall now look at the exceptions to copyright protection provided under the Copyright Act. Learn more about our trademark registration EXCEPTIONS TO COPYRIGHT PROTECTION It is important to note that to every general rule there is an exception, the Copyright Act has stipulated circumstances where someone may use or appropriate another person’s intellectual property. Intellectual Property Lawyers in Nigeria from A.A. Tejuoso & Co. would probably your favourite choice when it comes to resolving copyright protection related issues. Listed below are some of such circumstances as stipulated by the relevant provisions of the Nigerian Copyright Act 2004. Fair dealing for purposes of research, private use, criticism or review or the reporting of current events, subject to the condition that, if the use is public, it shall be accompanied by an acknowledgment of the title of the work and its authorship except where the work is incidentally included in a broadcast; The inclusion in a film or a broadcast of an artistic work situated in a place where it can be viewed by the public; The reproduction and distribution of copies of any artistic work permanently situated in a place where it can be viewed by the public; The incidental inclusion of an artistic work in a film or broadcast; The inclusion in a collection of literary or musical work which includes not more than two excerpts from the work, if the collection bears a statement that it is designed for educational use and includes an acknowledgment of the title and authorship of the work; The broadcasting of work if the broadcast is approved by the broadcasting authority as an educational broadcast; Any use made of a work in an approved educational institution for the educational purposes of that institution, subject to the condition that, if a reproduction is made for any such purpose it shall be destroyed before the end of the prescribed period, or if there is no prescribed period before the end of the period of twelve months after it was made: The making of a sound recording of a literary or musical work, and the reproduction of such a sound recording by the maker or under licence from him, where the copies thereof are intended for retail sale in Nigeria and the work has already been previously recorded under licence from the owner of the relevant part of the copyright whether in Nigeria or abroad, subject to such conditions and to the payment of such compensation as may be prescribed; You can also read: The procedure of Patent Infringement in Nigeria The reading or recitation in public or in a broadcast by any person of any reasonable extract from a published literary work if accompanied by sufficient acknowledgment provided that such reading or recitation is not for a commercial purpose; Any use made of a work by or under the direction or control of the Government, or by such public libraries, non-commercial documentation centers, and scientific or other institutions as may be prescribed, where the use is in the public interest, no revenue is derived therefrom and no admission fee is charged for the communication, if any, to the public of the work so used; The reproduction of a work by or under the direction or control of a broadcasting authority where the reproduction or any copies thereof are intended exclusively for a lawful broadcast and are destroyed before the end of the period of six months immediately following the making of the reproduction or such longer period as may be agreed between the broadcasting authority and the owner of the relevant part of the copyright in the work. The broadcasting of work already lawfully made accessible to the public and subject (without prejudice to the other provisions of this Schedule) to the condition that the owner of the broadcasting rights in the work shall receive a fair compensation determined, in the absence of agreement, by the court; News of the day publicly broadcast or publicly communicated by any other means; The communication to the public of a work, in a place where no admission fee is charged in respect of the communication, by any club whose aim is not profit-making; The making of not more than three copies of a book (including a pamphlet, sheet or music, map, chart or plan) by or under the direction of the person in charge of a public library for the use of the library if such a book is not available for sale in Nigeria; The reproduction for research or private study of an unpublished literary or musical work kept in a library, museum or other institutions to which the public has access; Reproduction of published work in braille for the exclusive use of the blind, and sound recordings made by institutions or other establishments approved by the government for the promotion of the welfare of other disabled persons for the exclusive use of such blind or disabled person. Hire an Intellectual Properties Attorney in Nigeria to get rid of the issues effectively under the copyright act. Register a Trademark Schedule An Appointment Request Quote RECENT POST Frequently Asked Questions About Patents in Nigeria December 11, 2023 Five Things You Need to Know About Trademarks November 5, 2020 Procedure For Trade Mark Registration in Nigeria November 5, 2020 REGISTER A TRADEMARK ADDRESS 33 Cavendish Square London W1G 0PW BOOK AN APPOINTMENT Please contact us by phone or via the online form to set an appointment. thank you! +234 1264 3024

COPYRIGHT PROTECTION IN NIGERIA (IV) RECENT POST Frequently Asked Questions About Patents in Nigeria December 11, 2023 Five Things You Need to Know About Trademarks November 5, 2020 Procedure For Trade Mark Registration in Nigeria November 5, 2020 REGISTER A TRADEMARK ADDRESS 33 Cavendish Square London W1G 0PW BOOK AN APPOINTMENT Please contact us by phone or via the online form to set an appointment. thank you! +234 1264 3024 OAPI (African Intellectual Property Organization) encompasses the majority of African French-speaking countries. The most distinctive characteristic and advantage of OAPI is that a single trade mark registration is automatically effective in all its member states, without the possibility of designating individual member states. Member states do not have national Intellectual Property Laws. OAPI provides a centralized system for Trade mark registration requiring the filing of an application directly to OAPI in order to obtain trade mark protection in its member Countries. A Patent Attorney in Nigeria from Tejuso can assist you regarding the proceesings. Learn more about our trademark registration OAPI CURRENTLY COMPRISES THE FOLLOWING 17 COUNTRIES: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Comoro Islands, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. You can also read: COPYRIGHT PROTECTION IN NIGERIA (IV) To file an application to register a trade mark in OAPI the following documents/details are required: 1)     Name of owner (if a moral person indicate corporate form); 2)     Full address of the owner; 3)     Nationality of the owner;         4)     Specification of goods/services; 5)     10 representations of the trademark, this is not required for a word mark. 6)     Classes of goods/services. It should be noted that in the OAPI system, goods and services marks must be filed in separate applications. 7)     Priority claim and priority document (if any); 8)     Colour claim (if any);      9)     Assignment of priority right (if any); 10) Power of Attorney (notarization not required). This can be filed after the filing of the applications. Once your trade mark is registered you must use the mark in OAPI within 5 years otherwise an application for cancellation of the mark for non-use can be made and if successful the mark will be deregistered.   Registration of a  trade mark in OAPI lasts for 10 years from the date of the filing of the application and must be renewed every 10 years thereafter. There is a grace period of 6 months within which an application for late renewal of the trade mark can be made subject to the payment of renewal fees and a surcharge, but make sure to hire an Intellectual Property Rights Lawyer. Register a Trademark Schedule An Appointment Request Quote RECENT POST Frequently Asked Questions About Patents in Nigeria December 11, 2023 Five Things You Need to Know About Trademarks November 5, 2020 Procedure For Trade Mark Registration in Nigeria November 5, 2020 REGISTER A TRADEMARK ADDRESS 33 Cavendish Square London W1G 0PW BOOK AN APPOINTMENT Please contact us by phone or via the online form to set an appointment. thank you! +234 1264 3024