Nigeria: intellectuele eigendom
Onderstaande informatie is beschikbaar gesteld door de Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) en bevat een overzicht van de intellectuele eigendomsbepalingen in Nigeria. Onderwerpen zijn:
- lidmaatschap internationale conventies
- handelsnaam
- handelsmerk
- patenten/octrooien
- tekeningen en modellen
- auteursrecht
Intellectual-property law
Conventions
Paris Convention; Universal Copyright Convention; Bern Convention; World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Convention; WIPO Copyright Treaty; WIPO Performance/Phonographic Treaty; Rome Convention; and the World Trade Organisation agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs).
Basic laws
Patents and Designs Act (1970) Cap 344 LFN 1990; Trade Marks Act (1965) Cap 436 LFN 1990; Copyright Act (1988) Cap 68 LFN 1990 (amended by the Copyright Amendment Decree 96 of 1992); Copyright Optical Discs Plants Regulations (2006).
Patents
Duration
Twenty years from date of application. Patents cannot be renewed but must be maintained with annual fees.
Priority claims
Because Nigeria is a Paris Convention country, foreign priority can be claimed if the application for the same was made not more than 12 months before the filing date in Nigeria.
Novelty
An invention is considered new if it does not form part of the state-of-the-art and if it has not been made available to the public anywhere at any time prior to the date of application (or the foreign priority date, if not more than 12 months earlier). The invention may have been displayed at an official internationally recognised exhibition within six months prior to application date.
Unpatentable
Plant or animal varieties, biological processes, inventions contrary to public order or morality, and scientific principles and discoveries.
Fees
Around US$167 for official fees; US$600-1,100 for attorney and other fees.
Compulsory licensing
Application may be made to the courts for a compulsory licence if, after four years from the patent application date or three years from the grant date (whichever is later), a patent is not worked in Nigeria, is insufficiently worked, work is prevented by importation or the patentee refuses to grant a licence on reasonable terms, thus harming development of industrial and commercial activities in Nigeria. Compulsory licences may also be granted if necessary to work a patent capable of being worked but which has not been so worked.
Industrial designs and models
In accordance with the Patents and Designs Act (1970) Cap 344 LFN 1990, industrial designs may be registered and protected for five years, and protection is renewable for two additional five-year terms.
Fees
Around US$134 for official fees; US$500-900 for attorney and other fees.
Trademarks
Types and duration
Only goods may be registered. Services may not be registered, though the proposed Industrial Property bill (2008) would allow such registration (when promulgated). Also under consideration in parliament is a bill to establish an Industrial Property Commission. The bill seeks, among other objectives, to improve existing legislation related to the recording, publishing and enforcement of trademarks. No further steps had been taken to pass these bills into law by April 2011. The international classification of goods now applies. Goods registered under the old classification are to be reclassified as soon as possible on payment of the necessary fees. Trademarks last for seven years from application and are renewable for additional periods of 14 years thereafter.
Legal effect
Registration confers legal rights.
Not registrable
Marks that are similar or identical to a prior registered mark or a pending application; deceptive or scandalous matter; names of single chemical compounds.
Fees
US$167 for official fees; US$500-900 for lawyer and other fees.
Copyrights
Types and duration
The Copyright Act of 1988 covers six broad groups: (1) literary works, which encompass computer software; (2) musical works; (3) artistic works; (4) cinematographic films; (5) sound recordings; and (6) broadcasts. Performer's rights and folklore are protected as neighbouring rights.
For the first three types, protection is for a period expiring 70 years after the end of the year in which the author dies (or for a corporate author, 70 years after the end of the year in which the work was first published). However, protection for photographs (classified under artistic works) expires 50 years after the end of the year in which the work was first published. Protection for types 4-6 expires 50 years after the end of the year in which the work was first published, recorded or broadcast. Copyrights cannot be renewed.
Legal effect
Copyright generally confers the exclusive right to control use of the work in Nigeria. Reciprocal extension of copyright protection is possible where Nigeria is a party to a relevant international agreement. The copyright owner has the right to claim authorship of the work, except when it is included incidentally or accidentally when reporting current events via broadcasting. The owner can also object and seek relief in connection with any distortion, mutilation or modification of the work, and any other derogatory action in relation to it, where such action would be prejudicial to the author's honour or reputation. Publishers, printers, producers or manufacturers of works in which copyright subsists must keep a register of all works produced by them, showing the name of author, title, year of production and the quantity produced.
Any qualified person may apply to the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) for a licence to produce and publish a translation of a literary or dramatic work that has been published in printed or analogous forms of reproduction for teaching, scholarship or research. The NCC also maintains a databank on authors and their works. Notification to the NCC by the rights owner is necessary to obtain protection for the work. There are no fees for this service.
Meer informatie over intellectuele eigendom vindt u op de pagina:
World Intellectual Property Organization - WIPO
