An Assessment of the Legal Procedure for the Registration of Trademarks in Nigeria

Abstract

Intellectual property represents the human ideas and innovation which has been translated into information or technical know-how that are of commercial, scientific and proprietary value. The law recognizes these values and attaches some rights to
the owners of such property. Due to the economic value of intellectual property, the law confers some rights to the owner of trade mark against unauthorized use by other people. These rights emanate from the registration status of the trademark.
Registration of trademarks is the basic concept of trademark protection, it is a pre-condition for the institution of infringement action under the Trademarks Act. Taking into consideration that registration is not mandatory; the common law however,
offers some forms of protection to a proprietor of an unregistered trademarks. Hence, where the marks or services have conferred on the owner considerable goodwill or reputation, the owner can enforce his right under the common law tort of
passing off1.Registration further confers on the proprietor of a trademark, exclusive rights to use the mark in relation to goods or classes of goods in respect of which it is registered. In conducting this research, the authors adopted doctrinal method of
research using both primary and secondary sources of material. The paper amongst others revealed that the artificial dichotomy created between Part A and Part B of the Act relating to trademark registration is entirely unclear and in actual fact there
appears to be little or no difference. Therefore, there is no logical basis for continuing with this dual system of registration which is largely ignored in practice. It is recommended amongst others that section 2(3), 6(2) and 14(2) of the Trademark Act, be amended to harmonize the registration in Part A and B which has been abandoned in almost all the developed countries.