26 October

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Premiums and the Risk Factor in Nigerian Insurance Law

A woman insures her Mercedes for ₦7.8 million. The premium is ₦520,000. She pays ₦220,000 on the day and promises the balance. Two months later, gunmen take the car outside her house. Two days after that, she pays the remaining ₦300,000 and makes her claim. An arbitrator awards her ₦6.3 million. The Court of Appeal sets the award aside: she was never covered.¹ That story, from Industrial and General Insurance Co Ltd v Adogu, sums up why premiums matter. The premium is the price of cover, and in Nigeria the law now says that no premium, no cover. This article explains...

24 October

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Insurable Interest in Nigerian Insurance Law

Posted by Kolawole Adebowale

in Insurance Law

A bank lends money to a trader against the security of the trader's warehouse. The trader takes out the fire policy and the bank's interest is noted on it. The warehouse burns down. Who can claim, and for how much? Banks, mortgagors, importers, shareholders and creditors have all asked that question in Nigerian courts, and the answers turn on one idea every insurance student must master: insurable interest. This article explains what an insurable interest is, who has one, when it must exist and what happens when it is missing. It builds on Nature and Legal Meaning of Insurance in Nigeria...

18 August

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Patent Infringement and Remedies Under Nigerian Law

Posted by Kolawole Adebowale

in Class Notes, Educational Articles, Exam Prep, IP Law

In 2007, a Federal High Court in Lagos found that two Nigerian companies, Tyonex Nigeria Limited and Ebamic Pharmacy Limited, had infringed Pfizer's registered Nigerian patent by importing and selling a pharmaceutical product called "Amlovas," which contained Amlodipine Besylate, the active compound that Pfizer had patented in Nigeria for its cardiovascular drug Norvasc. The court granted an injunction and awarded damages in Pfizer's favour. It took five years from the filing of the suit to the judgment. In a separate matter, a patent infringement dispute between Dr. C.J.A. Uwemedimo and Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited began in the early 2000s and...

15 August

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How to Register a Patent in Nigeria: The Application Process and the Deposit System Problem

Posted by Kolawole Adebowale

in Class Notes, Educational Articles, IP Law

In the early years of Nigeria's HIV/AIDS epidemic, when antiretroviral drugs were protected by patents held primarily by multinational pharmaceutical companies and priced far beyond the reach of most Nigerians, the question of whether Nigeria could override those patent monopolies to access cheaper generic versions became one of the most pressing public health questions in the country. The legal answer, if Nigeria chose to use it, was yes: the Patents and Designs Act gives Nigerian courts the power to grant compulsory licences allowing the manufacture or importation of patented products without the patent holder's consent. The practical answer was that...

15 August

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Patentable Inventions in Nigeria: What the Patents and Designs Act Protects

Posted by Kolawole Adebowale

in Class Notes, Educational Articles, IP Law

In 2001, the World Trade Organization's Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health confirmed that developing countries could use compulsory licensing and other TRIPS flexibilities to produce or import generic versions of patented medicines for public health emergencies. Nigeria, a country where access to patented antiretroviral drugs and essential medicines has been a live public health issue, is one of the countries for whom that Declaration was most immediately relevant. Understanding the Nigerian patent system requires not only understanding what inventions can be patented, but understanding the structural weaknesses of the system that grants those patents and the international framework...

15 August

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Trademark Licensing and Assignment in Nigeria

Posted by Kolawole Adebowale

in Class Notes, Educational Articles, Exam Preparation, IP Law

Every time a Nigerian franchise partner opens a KFC or Shoprite outlet, they are operating under a trademark licence arrangement: they have been authorised by the overseas brand owner to use the registered mark in connection with their business in Nigeria, without ever owning the mark themselves. Every time a Nigerian manufacturer of branded goods is acquired by a competitor who continues to sell under the original brand name, a trademark assignment has occurred: ownership of the mark has been transferred from one legal entity to another. These are among the most commercially significant transactions in the Nigerian business landscape,...

26 July

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Remedies for Trademark Infringement in Nigeria: Injunctions, Damages and Criminal Liability

Posted by Kolawole Adebowale

in Class Notes, Exam Prep, IP Law, Study Resources

A global consumer goods company discovers that a manufacturer in Aba is producing thousands of units of a soap bar using packaging that closely imitates its registered trademark, colour scheme, and brand name. The infringing goods are already moving through distribution channels toward retailers across the south-east. If the company waits for a full trial before seeking relief, the market damage will be done and largely irreversible. If it goes to court immediately, it can try to stop the infringement before most of the damage occurs. And if criminal prosecution is also available, it may be possible to deter future...

26 July

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Passing Off in Nigeria: The Unregistered Mark’s Protection and the Jurisdiction Controversy

Posted by Kolawole Adebowale

in Class Notes, Exam Preparation, IP Law, Study Resources

A small-batch pepper sauce producer in Port Harcourt spends four years building a loyal customer base around her brand's distinctive green-and-white label with the handwritten-style logo. She has never registered the mark. A distributor in Warri begins selling a similar product using almost identical packaging in the same markets, trading on the reputation she has built. She has no registered trademark to sue on. Does she have any legal remedy? The answer is yes, through the common law action for passing off, one of the oldest forms of intellectual property protection in the common law world and one that exists entirely...

09 July

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Trademark Infringement in Nigeria: How Courts Assess Confusion, Similarity and Counterfeiting

Posted by Kolawole Adebowale

in Class Notes, Educational Articles, IP Law

Walk into a roadside pharmacy in Oshodi and you might find a box labelled "Panadon" sitting next to genuine "Panadol" on the shelf. The packaging uses the same blue-and-white colour scheme. The font is nearly identical. A tired, unwell shopper grabbing medication quickly may not notice the difference. In a market where counterfeit pharmaceuticals have killed people, the question of whether these two marks are confusingly similar is not an abstract legal exercise. It is a public safety question that trademark law must answer. Understanding how Nigerian courts determine whether trademark infringement has occurred, how they assess whether one mark is...

09 July

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How to Register a Trademark in Nigeria: Parts A and B of the Register

Posted by Kolawole Adebowale

in Class Notes, Educational Articles, IP Law, Study Resources

Imagine you have spent three years building a small pepper sauce brand in Port Harcourt. Your distinctive label, your invented brand name, and the loyal customer base you have cultivated across the Niger Delta represent real commercial value. One morning you discover that a Lagos distributor has started selling a very similar product under a nearly identical name, and is already advertising it to retailers. You want to sue. Then your lawyer asks the single most important procedural question in Nigerian trademark law: is your mark registered? If the answer is no, section 3 of the Trade Marks Act immediately closes...

Author: Kolawole Adebowale