The idea of an Industrial Property Commission has been around in Nigeria for many years now. The crux of the idea is a consolidation of the various aspects of intellectual property that relates directly to industrial application (such as trademarks, patents, and industrial designs) and place them under a single administrative regime. Notably left out in this proposal is copyrights administration as it is not considered an industrial property. The Industrial Property Commission Bill also featured but was not passed in the 8th National Assembly and has now been reintroduced into the 9th Assembly.
The Bill seeks to establish the Industrial Property Commission of Nigeria (Section 1) to:
“supervise the administration of the law relating to intellectual propertyi and ensure the rapid and coordinated development of intellectual property in Nigeria”;
among other related goals as contained in Section 4 of the Bill. The Bill proposes a Governing Board for the Commission, which would be predominantly constituted by representatives of various MDAs (Section 3). The Bill also proposes a Registrar-General who shall be the Chief Executive and Accounting Officer of the Commission (Section 9). The Bill proposes five departments for the Commission, made up of three Registries (Patents and Designs, Trademarks, and Plant Varieties and Animal Breeds Rights) each of which is to be headed by a Registrar supported by Deputy and Assist Registrars. The other two departments are Administration and Finance; and Research, Planning and Statistics (Section 13).
The three Registries have the mandate of implementing the different Parts of the Bill as their names imply.
The scope of the Industrial Property Bill includes patents and industrial designs (including layout and circuit designs), trademarks (including service marks, collective marks, certification marks and geographic indication), and plant varieties and animal breeders’ rights (including the rights of farmers thereto). Section 22 of the Bill proposes the establishment of an Industrial Property Appeal Board
“which shall be charged with the duty of considering and determining any case referred to it by any party aggrieved as a result of the Competent Authority’s refusal to grant it a compulsory license and any other case it has cognisance under the Act”
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