Trademark Protection Under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020: An Evaluation of an Expanded Protective Framework in Nigeria

Description

ABSTRACT

Trademark Protection Under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020: An Evaluation of an Expanded Protective Framework in Nigeria

Richman Thommanuel*

The registration of a trade mark under the Trade Marks Act confers on the registered proprietor the right to the exclusive use of the mark. In furtherance of the need to protect trade marks and to prevent infringement, the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), being the legislation regulating the formation of companies and other business entities in Nigeria, stipulates as a precondition for the registration of a company that where the proposed name of the company conflicts with or is likely to conflict with an existing trade mark registered in Nigeria, the same shall not be registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). To give meaningful effect to the foregoing, the CAMA 1990 empowered the CAC to issue directives for a company to voluntarily change its name if same was inadvertently registered under a name that conflicts with an existing trademark. Despite the powers conferred on the CAC in this regard, the CAMA 1990 was flawed with specific shortcomings, including the absence of a mechanism to enforce the CAC’s directives for an infringing company to change its name. In 2020, the CAMA1990 was repealed and re-enacted as CAMA2020. With the repeal and re-enactment, the field of protection of trademarks and trademark rights enforcement has expanded beyond what was obtainable under the repealed CAMA 1990. This article examines the level of protection offered to trademark proprietors under the CAMA 2020 vis-à-vis the state of the law under the repealed CAMA1990.

Keywords: Trademarks, Companies, CAMA, Proceedings, Infringement, Protection, Goodwill.

INTRODUCTION
The primary function of law in any political society is arguably the protection of the liberties and rights of citizens.₁ Law prescribes acceptable standards of behaviour and mandates everyone within its coverage to abide by the same. A common legal saying which has almost (if not already) obtained the status of a cliché is the phrase “ubi jus ibi remedium” – where there is a right, there is a remedy.

The phrase is a principle of the common law and is to the effect that “where one’s right is invaded or destroyed, the law gives a remedy to protect it or damages for its loss; and where one’s right is denied, the law affords the remedy of an action for its enforcement”.₂

*Associate, Aluko & Oyebode, Lagos, Nigeria.

1. Legal Environment, ‘The Meaning and Purpose of Law’, accessed 30 May 2022.
2. Oxford Reference, Ubi Jus, Ibi Remedium, available at <https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803110448446> accessed 13 March 2021

THE GRAVITAS REVIEW OF BUSINESS & PROPERTY LAW VOL.13 NO.2