Intellectual Property Regulatory Environment in Nigeria
What is Intellectual Property?
According to the World Intellectual Property Organisation(WIPO), intellectual property refers to creations of the mind: inventions; literary and artistic works; and symbols, names, and images used in commerce. Intellectual property is divided into two categories:
Industrial Property includes patents for inventions, trademarks, industrial designs, and geographical indications.
Copyright covers literary works (such as novels, poems, and plays), films, music, artistic works (e.g., drawings, paintings, photographs, and sculptures) and architectural design. Rights related to copyright include those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and broadcasters in their radio and television programs.
Why are intellectual property rights important?
IP rights are incentives for creativity and innovation. IP rights also protect business interests and provide revenue through licensing and assignments.
Primary IP rights allow creators, or owners, of patents, trademarks or copyrighted works to benefit from their own work or investment in a creation. Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides for the right to benefit from the protection of moral and material interests resulting from authorship of scientific, literary or artistic productions.
We are beginning to see a shift in global economic structure with many countries transitioning to knowledge-based economies.
An efficient and equitable intellectual property system can help all countries to realise intellectual property’s potential as a catalyst for economic development and social and cultural well-being.
This is particularly relevant to Africa as we are still some ways behind the pacesetters in the West and the Asian continent in this regard.
How can interested inventors/creators learn how to protect their intellectual property in Nigeria?
Inventors/creators register their creations or innovations with appropriate regulatory authorities.
For example, copyright owners should register their creations on the Nigerian Copyright Commission’s (NCC) online database. Although copyright registration is not compulsory, it provides a convenient tool for proving ownership, date of creation and other ancillary information relating to copyrighted material. Copyright owners/authors must read agreements carefully to avoid unintentional transfer of rights. This includes Musicians, Graphic Designers, Copywriters, etc. This is not to imply that creators must be versed in the legal intricacies of these contract instead they should seek to retain the services of a lawyer to conduct market checks, identify infringing goods and employ the mandatory legal steps to prevent the unlawful distribution of infringing materials.
Creators and inventors should register trademarks with the Trademarks, Designs and Patent Registry in Nigeria. The initial registration is valid for 7 years and a subsequent renewal is valid for 14 years. Trademark registration rights can last indefinitely, provided the owner continues using and renewing it.
Inventors should register patents for new (or improved) inventions which result from inventive activity and are capable of industrial application. Nigeria is not a patent examining country. This means that there are no substantive examinations of patents before they are granted.
Company and SME IP Protocol:
Companies need to understand the full value of their IP. It is argued that over 80% of a company’s value is attributed to intangible assets. These assets are highly important to capture, catalogue, qualify and protect to create real enterprise value and ensure a smooth “exit”.
These assets can range from a unique business method to even the company slogan.
Twitter, Facebook, and Google have all found their IP portfolios lacking in the past, which left them open to incoming IP litigation, to fix this they had to spend massive amounts of money to acquire third-party portfolios.
These are problems that can occur while conducting business within the Nigerian jurisdiction; but will become even more pronounced if companies decided to expand and grow internationally, Due to the more matured/robust IP systems in developed countries.
Analysing the IP landscape to assess risk, gives you an informed action plan when this is done an IP position will then be built to deter threats from competitors, thus reducing the management team being distracted from the primary focus of getting to market.
Where should we be heading:
Nigeria is quickly beginning to see growth in its knowledge-based economy. Tech SME’s are seemingly sprouting at a rapid rate but all this development is for nought if a rigid and procreator IP regulatory structure isn’t put in place.
Fortunately, there haven’t been many major IP disputes yet but given the current state of affairs, it is only a matter of time before this poor framework is exploited.
If our goal is to achieve the kind of economic transformation that the West and Asia have seen, then it is imperative that we also put in place the high U.S. or European style standards of IP laws and enforcement. If our laws don’t catch up with our technological growth it will pose serious problems to innovation in affected sectors.
To name a few things with regards to changes:
- Concerted efforts must be made in the Judicial and Legal aspect of intellectual property practice.
- The passage of pending IP bills such as the Industrial Property Bill, 2016 and the Data protection Bill, 2017.
- A fully digital trademark registry. At the moment, registered agents can pay for services online but cannot conduct searches online.
When contracting with multinationals for participation in our industries caution and meticulosity need to be observed from an IP perspective. A lot of the time when these specialists are assigned Projects or receive permission to conduct business in Nigeria the extent of the obligation is limited to supplying new technology. A problem then arises when locally there is the absence of technical expertise that is required to operate the parted technology. Provisions need to be implemented — a provision that mandates technical training along with the parting of new technology should aid with foreign participation.
Chuba is a Legal and Corporate Executive at 3 Wise Pixels. Learn more about 3WP here.
