By Yetunde Okojie and Oluwasolape Owoyemi

How do I Register an Invention in Nigeria? Substantive and Procedural Requirements for Registration of an Invention

Patents protect innovation by providing the inventor with a twenty-year, exclusive right to a patentable invention. Different jurisdictions have various criteria that must be satisfied before an innovative or inventive work can qualify for patent protection. Please note the following requirements are specific to Nigeria.

The Registration of Patents in Nigeria is governed and protected by the Patents and Designs Act, Cap. P2, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 (a codification of the 1970 Act). In Nigeria, an invention is patentable provided it meets the following requirements:

a. If it is new, results from an inventive activity and is capable of industrial application;
or
b. If it constitutes an improvement upon a patented invention and is also new, results from inventive activity and is capable of industrial application.

Unlike many developed countries and some developing countries, the question of patentability is generally not examined as to substance by the Nigerian Patent Registry unless a failure to address patentable subject matter is egregious or the issue of patentability is apparent on the face of the submitted documents. What this means is that Nigeria does not operate an examination-based system. Once it is ascertained that the invention addresses patentable subject matter, the next step required would be to file an application for registration of the invention at the Patents Registry which shall contain the following:

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