The Nigerian Business Environment and the Intellectual Property Rights

One of the important roles of intellectual property (IP) rights is to protect an invention. Business owners and entrepreneurs must continuously provide and introduce innovative products and services or enhance the quality of the goods and services they currently offer with the help of any of the Intellectual Property Law Firms in Nigeria.

Without any assurance that their ideas or intellectual property can be properly protected by the law, companies and individuals may focus less on research and development. They know that they wouldn’t be able to reap the full benefits of their intellectual property that has no protection against unauthorized use. IP rights can guarantee that the owner’s inventions will not be subjected to unauthorized use. This includes the unauthorized sale or licensing, distribution, and reproduction of the original owner’s invention.

IP rights safeguard innovations, promote research and development, and enhance the earning capacity of micro, small, and medium business ventures. There are various challenges in the IP rights enforcement in the Nigerian markets, which have abundant counterfeit products.

Protecting the Intellectual Property in Nigeria

The Government of Nigeria has five prominent agencies that are responsible for IP rights enforcement:

1. Nigeria Copyright Commission (NCC)

Nigeria Copyright Commission (NCC), which was created by virtue of the Copyright Act. It handles the copyright administration and all issues involving copyright in Nigeria. The NCC has collaboration with Copyright Societies. The NCC keeps a database of the works of the different authors, together with their names. The agency also accepts and approves copyright license applications.

2. Consumer Protection Council (CPC)

This agency is responsible for handling the complaints of consumers. It also provides consumer education as well as encourages professional, industry, and trade associations to create and enforce quality standards that can help protect the consumers’ interests.

You can also read: NIGERIA: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND FILING REQUIREMENTS

3. Standards Organizations of Nigeria

It is the apex body that’s responsible for standardization in Nigeria. They handle all of Nigeria’s standards on processes, scientific study of measurements, and products.

4. Nigeria Custom Services

The core functions of this agency are:

- Collect revenue from import and excise duties.

- Suppress and prevent smuggling.

It also has collaborative functions with the different agencies of the Nigerian government. These include the police, NAFDAC, and others. It supports the fight against other illegal activities, including:

- Illegal commercial activities, such as importing of pirated and substandard products.

- IP rights infraction.

5. National Agency for Food, Drug, Administration, and Control (NAFDAC)

This agency is authorized to control and regulate the sale and use, distribution, advertisement, manufacture, exportation, and importation of the following:

- Chemicals

- Packed water

- Medical devices

- Cosmetics

- Drugs

The Nigerian markets are teeming with pirated and substandard products from China. The products include computers, DVDs, mobile phones, sportswear (including replicas of famous football clubs’ jerseys), and others.

Piracy and counterfeiting greatly affect the different industries in Nigeria. Every industry suffers a huge loss from counterfeiting and piracy. Different hospitals have submitted a report showing the annual death toll of hundreds of Nigerians who died due to counterfeit drugs.

The NAFDAC took action and arrested a Nigerian named Mr. Olisaemeka, who imported the counterfeit drugs amounting to millions of US dollars. He had collaboration with a China-based cartel. He was properly charged to face the law.

IP rights under the guidance of any of the Patent and Trademark Attorneys in Nigeria can give the protection that the inventions deserve as well as the competitiveness of the products and services that the consumers ought to get.