October 9, 2016 — Very often, trademark attorneys in Nigeria present their clients with the option of conducting an official trademark search at the Trademarks Registry in Abuja. The rationale behind this clearance search is to make sure that the proposed trademark has not been previously registered and is not identical or confusingly similar to an existing trademark in Nigeria.
In many cases, clients in order to save money may chose to forego this optional search and proceed with the filing of their trademark application. While some trademark applications do not experience any issues with the filing and are accepted, the registry in some cases may refuse the trademark application on grounds that it conflicts with an existing trademark or multiple trademarks.
Below are some examples of trademark applications that were rejected by the registry in Nigeria on grounds that they conflicted with existing trademarks.
PROPOSED TRADEMARK |
EXISTING TRADEMARK |
| PROPOSED TRADEMARK: AMERICAN HONEY AND DEVICE
APPLICANT: CAMPARI AMERICA LLC DATE OF FILING: 2015‐06‐02 CLASS: 33 |
TRADEMARK: AMERICAN HONEY
OWNER: RARE BREED DISTILLING INC. DATE OF FILING: 2010-07-12 CLASS: 33 |
| PROPOSED TRADEMARK: HIACE
APPLICANT: JIANGSU HAISHI AUTOMOTIVE COMPONENTS CO., LTD. DATE OF FILING: 2015‐03‐06 CLASS: 11 |
TRADEMARK: HIACE
OWNER: TOYOTA JIDOSHI KABUSHIKI KAISHA DATE OF FILING: 1978-09-01 CLASS: 11 |
| PROPOSED TRADEMARK: YVES ROCHER & DEVICE
APPLICANT: LABORATOIRES DE BIOLOGIE VEGETALE YVES ROCHER DATE OF FILING: 2015-03-13 CLASS: 3 |
TRADEMARK: YVES ROCHER
OWNER: SOCIETE DETUDES DE CHIMIE DATE OF FILING: 1984-10-29 CLASS: 3 |
| PROPOSED TRADEMARK: BUTTERKIST
APPLICANT: INTERNATIONAL BISCUITS LIMITED DATE OF FILING: 2013-09-19 CLASS: 30 |
TRADEMARK: BUTTERKIST BUTTERBREAD
OWNER: BURKER TRAIN NIG. LTD DATE OF FILING: 1982-06-10 CLASS: 30 |
| PROPOSED TRADEMARK: GIACOBAZZI
APPLICANT: DONELLI VINI S.P.A DATE OF FILING: 2013‐10‐02 CLASS: 33 |
TRADEMARK: GIACCOBAZIL
OWNER: BENEKS GROUP OF CO. LTD DATE OF FILING: 2005-10-24 CLASS: 33 |
| PROPOSED TRADEMARK: BLACK VELVET
APPLICANT: CONSTELLATION CANADA, LIMITED DATE OF FILING: 2013‐09‐27 CLASS: 33 |
TRADEMARK: BLACK VELVET MALT
OWNER: NIGERIAN BREWERIES PLC DATE OF FILING: 1992-12-21 CLASS: 33 |
| PROPOSED TRADEMARK: APC
APPLICANT: SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC IT CORPORATION DATE OF FILING: 2013‐08‐06 CLASS: 9 |
TRADEMARK: APC
OWNER: ANADARKO PETROLEUM CORP GUS.CORD.ORG DATE OF FILING: 2006-08-29 CLASS: 9 |
The decision to conduct a comprehensive search for a proposed trademark is completely up to the client but it is definitely an important option to consider before filing a trademark application as it may save the client a lot of money long-term.
This article is intended to provide general information about the subject matter. Professional legal advice should be sought about specific circumstances.
