Intellectual Property Law Services in Nigeria

Trademark registration falls under the Trademark Registry (Nigerian Industrial Property Office, NIPO), while copyright registration falls under the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC).

A trademark is a legally protected distinctive sign — a word, logo, slogan or shape — used to identify and separate a business's goods or services from competitors, and which cannot be copied or used without the owner's authorisation.

A mark must be distinctive, containing at least one unique invented word or non-descriptive phrase. It must also be non-deceptive, non-identical to any existing brand, logo or trademark, and must not contain names of countries, chemicals, or terms deemed scandalous by the trademark registry.

The Registrar is an appointed official in charge of the Trademarks Registry, holding an official seal and answerable to the Federal Minister of Trade & Investment. The registrar's functions can be reassigned by the minister to any other suitable officer.

The Register is a record of all registered trademarks, containing the names and addresses of proprietors, application dates, notifications of assignments and transmissions, registered users, and other prescribed matters.

No person may institute proceedings to prevent, or recover damages for, infringement of an unregistered trademark — though this does not affect any right of action for passing off goods as those of another person, or the remedies available in respect of that.

A trademark must be registered in respect of particular goods or classes of goods. Any question as to which class goods fall within is determined by the registrar, whose decision is final.

Registration in Part A of the register as proprietor of a trademark (other than a certification trademark), in respect of any goods, gives that person the exclusive right to use the trademark in relation to those goods, if valid.

Seven years, after which it can be renewed for subsequent fourteen-year terms.

A copyright is an exclusive license given to a producer of a creative work to own and utilise that work for a given period, empowering the creative to control how the work is used, distributed, remade, transferred or adapted.

Musical works, literary works, artistic works, cinematograph films, sound recordings, and broadcasts.

Generally, life of the owner plus 70 years after death. For films, sound recordings and performance records, the validity period is 50 years from first publication.

This falls under Neighbouring Rights — rights in a creative work not connected with its actual creator. Neighbouring rights are payable and constitute a type of intellectual property lease.

Royalties are payments made to an individual or company for the regular use of their copyrights — for example, any broadcaster playing your song owes you a royalty payment.

A & R (Artistes & Repertoire) representatives are skilled in finding promising musical artists to sign to a recording contract with a record label or music publisher. Some labels maintain dedicated A & R departments.

Musical compositions are typically owned by the songwriters, while the sound recordings are usually owned by the artist or record label.

Yes — even where the song is not being performed commercially.