Games, applications and software programming is now recognised
as intellectual property by the federal government.
The federal ministry of industry, trade and investment made this
known in a statement released on Tuesday.
The ministry said a six-year backlog of applications for
registration and issuance of certificates dating has been cleared
and digitisation of the records of the registries has addressed the
problems of missing files and inaccessible records.
The acting registrar of trademarks has also issued the annual
report on the implementation of the Trademarks Act and a collection
of all opposition rulings in the Registry of Trademarks has been
published for the first time in 51 years.
According to Okechukwu Enelamah, the minister of industry, trade
and investment, the Nigerian industrial revolution plan, which
seeks out alternative sources of revenue, identified a
knowledge-based economy as an area to explore.
“The development of a National Intellectual Property Policy for
Nigeria was critical; modernisation of the legal framework to
capture existing treaty obligations of Nigeria was mandatory; and a
needed framework to extend to cover more recent developments like
apps, games, programming and other online assets. Most importantly,
the administrative regime for IP in Nigeria was due for a dramatic
update,” he said.
The reforms involved the separation of the registries into
patents & designs registry; and trademarks registry.
Additional achievements made include regular engagement with
stakeholders and a speedy feedback mechanism on the status of
applications and issues.
The registries plan to shorten the registration waiting period
to six months, publish a quarterly publication of journals with an
online version, hold weekly sittings of opposition tribunal and
engage a dedicated courier company for dispatch of opposition
processes weekly.
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