Commentaries and Analysis on Nigeria’s Trade Marks Act

Description

ABSTRACT

Book Review – Commentaries and Analysis on Nigeria’s Trade Marks Act

Adebambo Adewopo*

AUTHOR: Mark Mordi

PUBLISHER: Verbatim Communications Ltd.
PAGES: 529
YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2021

INTRODUCTION

It is a pleasure to be asked to review a book I consider an important work on an equally important subject – trademark. Speaking of book reviews, permit me to quickly make a brief remark about book reviews as part of an academic discourse generally meant to provide first-hand information about the book, its author, content, presentation and its merit or otherwise; serving as a barometer to measure the depth and breath of the book. A book review is often symbolic, but there is something curious about it that seems to confer some sort of power or license on the reviewer that is not real, nevertheless present. Granted that by offering a foretaste of the book, and as some publishers insist, it can also assist in generating publicity. Beyond that, it would be stretching the point too far. I imagine that book review is like the cover of the book itself. As it is often said, you cannot judge a book by its cover. My point is that you cannot judge a book solely by its review any more than by what it actually contains or offers. In essence, my review here limits my task to that of merely curating the ‘rites of passage’ of this important book and should be seen as such – performing the customary role of heralding its entry into the market – a highly specialised legal space such as trademark law for that matter. The rest, therefore, falls on the book itself, and as the reviewer, with the benefit of having read the book ahead of others, I can attest that this book, given its rich content, is capable of delivering on its own strength, even without a review.

For anyone interested in the subject of trademark, it is one of the main pillars of intellectual property (IP) with remarkable development. It is indispensable to commerce across markets and industries and to those who have continued to engage in the enterprise of registering, protecting and administering trademarks and brands. Historically, traders have extensively used marks, often created from everyday language or sometimes invented words, to signify and differentiate their products in the marketplace. Beyond the basic origin and differentiation functions, trademark has served other functions,₁ which have established its ubiquity and characterised the evolution of the modern trademark system as one of the building blocks of business enterprise and, indeed, the emergent knowledge economy. The commercial value of trademark significantly accounts for the assets of modern business enterprises, with leading brands owing much of their net worth and…

* Professor, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. Senior Advocate of Nigeria. Of Counsel, L & A Legal Consultants. Former Director General, Nigerian Copyright Commission.

1. For the discussion of other functions of trade mark such as guarantee, advertising, ‘as a badge of support or affiliation’ and ‘lifestyle’ functions, see Jeremy Philips, Trade Mark Law A Practical Anatomy (Oxford University Press 2004) 23-28. See also Ruth Annand and Helen Norman, Blackstone’s Guide to Trade Mark Act 1994 (Blackstone Press 1994) 13.

THE GRAVITAS REVIEW OF BUSINESS & PROPERTY LAW VOL.12 NO.3