The list:
1. Sections of the act
2. First Schedule
3. Second Schedule
4. Patent and Design (Convention Countries)
Sections
Patents
1. Patentable
inventions.
2. Right to patent.
3. Patent applications.
4. Examination of application and grant of patent.
5. Form of grant, registration and publication.
6. Rights conferred by patent.
7. Duration and lapse of patent.
8. Surrender of patent.
9. Nullity of patent.
10. Licences of right.
11. Compulsory licences and official use.
Designs
12.
Nature of industrial design.
13. Registrable designs.
14. Right to registration.
15. Applications for registration.
16. Examination of applications for registration
17. Registration and publication.
18. Applications under sealed cover.
19. Rights conferred by registration.
20. Duration and renewal of registration.
21. Renunciation of registration.
22. Nullity of registration.
General
23.
Contractual licences.
24. Assignments, transfers and joint ownership.
25. Infringement of rights.
26. Legal proceedings.
27. Foreign priority.
28. Registration: miscellaneous provisions.
29. Effect against the State.
30. Rules.
31. Repeals, and transitional and saving provisions.
32. Interpretation.
33. Short title.
First
Schedule
Compulsory Licences and use of patents for service of government agencies
Second
Schedule
Transitional and saving provisions
AN Act to make comprehensive provisions for the
registration and proprietorship of Patents and Designs in
1970 No.
60.
Commencement. L.N.
53 of 1971.
[
Patents
1. (1)
Subject to this section, an invention is patentable-
(a) if it is new, results from inventive
activity and is capable of industrial application; or
(b) if it constitutes an improvement upon a patented invention and also is new,
results from inventive activity and is capable of industrial application.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section-
(a) an invention is new if it does not form part of the state of the art,
(b) an invention results from inventive activity if it does not obviously
follow from the state of the art, either as to the method, the application, the
combination of methods, or the product which it concerns, or as to the
industrial result it produces; and
(c) an invention is capable of industrial application if it can be manufactured
or used in any kind of industry, including agriculture.
(3) In subsection (2) of this section, "the art" means
the art or field of knowledge to which an invention relates and "the state
of the art" means everything concerning that art or field of knowledge
which has been made available to the public anywhere and at any time whatever
(by means of a written or oral description, by use or in any other way) before
the date of the filing of the patent application relating to the invention or
the foreign priority date validly claimed in respect thereof, so however that
an invention shall not be deemed to have been made available to the public
merely by reason of the fact that, within the period of six months preceding
the filing of a patent application in respect of the invention, the inventor or
his successor in title has exhibited it in an official or officially recognised
international exhibition.
(4) Patents cannot be validly obtained in respect of-
(a) plant or animal varieties, or essentially biological processes for the
production of plants or animals (other than microbiological processes and their
products); or
(b) inventions the publication or exploitation of which would be contrary to
public order or morality (it being understood for the purposes of this
paragraph that the exploitation of an invention is not contrary to public order
or morality merely because its exploitation is prohibited by law).
(5) Principles and discoveries of a scientific nature are not
inventions for the purposes of this Act.
2. (1)
Subject to this section, the right to a patent in respect of an invention is
vested in the statutory inventor, that is to say, the person who, whether or
not he is the true inventor, is the first to file, or validly to claim a
foreign priority for, a patent application in respect of the invention.
(2) The true inventor is entitled to be named as such in the
patent, whether or not he is also the statutory inventor, and, the entitlement
in question shall not be modifiable by contract.
(3) If the essential elements of a patent application have been
obtained by the purported applicant from the invention of another person (or
from that other person's successor in title) without the consent of that other
person (or his said successor) both to the obtaining of those essential
elements and to the filing of the application, all rights in the application
and in any patent granted in pursuance of it shall be deemed to be transferred
to that other person or his said successor, as the case may be.
(4) Where an invention is made in the course of employment or in
the execution of a contract for the performance of specified work, the right to
a patent in the invention is vested in the employer or, as the case may be, in
the person who commissioned the work:
Provided
that, where the inventor is an employee, then-
(a) if-
(i) his contract of employment does not require him to exercise
any inventive activity but he has in making the invention used data or means
that his employment has put at his disposal, or
(ii) the invention is of exceptional importance, he is entitled to fair
remuneration taking into account his salary and the importance of the
invention; and
(b) the entitlement in question is not
modifiable by contract and may be enforced by civil proceedings.
(5) A person is not an inventor for the purposes of this section
if he has merely assisted in doing work connected with the development of an
invention without contributing any inventive activity.
3. (1) Every patent application-
(a) shall be made to the Registrar and shall contain-
(i) the applicant's full name and address and, if that address is outside
Nigeria, an address for service in Nigeria,
(ii) a description of the relevant invention with any appropriate plans and
drawings,
(iii) a claim or claims, and
(iv) such other matter as may be prescribed; and
(b) shall be accompanied by-
(i) the prescribed fee,
(ii) where appropriate, a declaration signed by the true inventor requesting
that he be mentioned as such in the patent and giving his name and address, and
(iii) if the application is made by an agent, a signed power of attorney (so
however that, notwithstanding any rule of law, legalisation or certification of
the signature of the power of attorney shall be unnecessary).
(2) The description referred to in subsection (1)(a)(ii)
of this section shall disclose the relevant invention in a manner sufficiently
clear and complete for the invention to be put into effect by a person skilled
in the art or field of knowledge to which the invention relates; and the claim
or claims referred to in subsection (1)(a)(iii) of this section shall define
the protection sought and shall not go beyond the limits of the said description.
(3) A patent application shall relate to only one invention, but
may include in connection with that invention
(a) claims-
(i) for any number of products,
(ii) for any number of manufacturing processes for those products, and
(iii) for any number of applications of those products; and
(b) claims-
(i) for any number of processes, and
(ii) for the means of working those processes, for the resulting product or
products and for the application of those products.
(4) Where the applicant for a patent seeks to avail himself of a
foreign priority in respect of an earlier application made in a country outside
Nigeria-
(a) he shall append to his application under subsection (1) of this section a
written declaration showing-
(i) the date and number of the earlier application,
(ii) the country in which the earlier application was made, and
(iii) the name of the person who made the earlier application; and
(b) not more than three months after the making of the application
under subsection (1) of this section, he shall furnish the Registrar with a
copy of the earlier application certified correct by the Industrial Property
Office (or its equivalent) in the country where the earlier application was
made.
4. (1) The
Registrar shall examine every patent application as to its conformity with
section 3(1), (3) and (4) of this Act, and-
(a) if section 3(1) of this Act has not been complied with, the
Registrar shall reject the application;
(b) if section 3(3) of this Act has not been complied with, the Registrar
shall-
(i) invite the applicant to restrict the application so that it relates to only
one invention, and
(ii) notify the applicant that he may within, three months file in respect of
the other inventions dealt with in the original application subsidiary
applications which shall benefit from the date of filing of the original
application and, if relevant, from the date of any foreign priority claimed
under section 3(4) of this Act, and, if the applicant does not comply with the
invitation mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) of this subsection, shall reject the
application, and
(c) if section 3(4) of this Act has not been complied with, the Registrar shall
disregard any claim for foreign priority.
(2) Where the examination mentioned in subsection (1) of this
subsection shows that a patent application satisfies the requirements of
section 3(1) and (3) of this Act, the patent shall be granted as applied for
without further examination and, in particular, without examination of the
questions-
(a) whether the subject of the application is patentable under section 1 of
this Act;
(b) whether the description and claims satisfy the requirements of section 3(2)
of this Act; and
(c) whether a prior application, or an application benefiting
from a foreign priority, has been made in
(3) Where the said examination shows that section 3(4) of this Act
has been complied with as respects a claim for a foreign priority, the foreign
priority claimed shall be mentioned in the patent.
(4) Patents are granted at the risk of the patentee and without
guarantee of their validity.
5. (1) A
patent shall be granted by the issue to the patentee of a document containing-
(a) the number of the patent in the order of grant;
(b) the name and address of the patentee and, if that address is outside
Nigeria, an address for service in Nigeria;
(c) the dates of the patent application and the grant;
(d) if foreign priority is claimed-
(i) an indication of the fact, and
(ii) the number and date of the application on which the claim is based and the
name of the country where it was made;
(e) the description of the invention
(with any relevant plans and drawings) and the claims; and
(f) where appropriate, the name and address of the true inventor.
(2) The Registrar shall maintain a Register of Patents which shall
consist of duplicates of the documents issued under subsection ( 1 ) of this section, together with such further matter as
is required by this Act to be registered.
(3) As soon as may be after a patent has been granted subsection
(1) of this section, the Registrar shall to be published-
(a) a notification of the grant containing the details mentioned in paragraphs
to (f) of that subsection (except the description and the plans and drawings,
if any); or
(b) if a summary form of notification is prescribed, a notification in that
form.
6. (1) A patent confers upon the patentee the right to preclude any
other person from doing any of the following acts-
(a) where the patent has been granted in respect of a product, the
act of making, importing, selling or using the product, or stocking it for the
purpose of sale or use; and
(b) where the patent has been granted in respect of a process, the act of
applying the process or doing, in respect of a product obtained directly by
means of the process, any of the acts mentioned in paragraph (a) of this
subsection.
(2) The scope of the protection conferred by a patent shall be
determined by the terms of the claims; and the description (and the plans and
drawings, if any) included in the patent shall be used to interpret the claims.
(3) The rights under a patent-
(a) shall extend only to acts done for industrial or commercial purposes; and
(b) shall not extend to acts done in respect of a product covered by the patent
after the product has been lawfully sold in Nigeria, except in so far as the
patent makes provision for a special application of the product, in which case
the special application shall continue to be reserved to the patentee
notwithstanding this paragraph,
(4) Where, at the date of the filing of a patent application in
respect of a product or process or at the date of a foreign priority validly
claimed in respect of the application, a person other than the applicant-
(a) was conducting an undertaking in Nigeria; and
(b) in good faith and for the purposes of the undertaking, was manufacturing
the product or applying the process or had made serious preparations with a
view to doing so, then, notwithstanding the grant of a patent, there shall
exist a right (exercisable by the person for the time being conducting the
undertaking, and not otherwise) to continue the manufacture or application, or
to continue and complete the preparations and thereafter undertake the
manufacture or application, as the case may be, and in respect of any resulting
products to do any other act mentioned in subsection (1) of this section.
7. (1)
Subject to this Act, a patent shall expire at the end of the twentieth year
from the date of the filing of the relevant patent application.
(2) A patent shall lapse if the prescribed annual fees are not
duly paid in respect of it:
Provided that-
(a) a period of grace of six months shall
be allowed for the payment of the fees; and
(b) if the fees and any prescribed surcharge are paid within that period, the
patent shall continue as if the fees had been duly paid.
(3) The expiration or lapse of a patent shall be registered and
notified.
8. (1)
Subject to subsection (2) of this section, a patent, may be surrendered by the
patentee by written declaration addressed to the Registrar.
(2) The surrender of a patent-
(a) may relate to all or any of the claims made by the patent;
(b) subject to paragraph (d) of this subsection, shall be registered and
notified;
(c) shall not be effective until it has been registered; and
(d) if it relates to a patent as to which a contractual licence or licence of
right is registered, shall be registered only if it is accompanied by the
written consent of the licensee.
9. (1)
Subject to this section, on the application of any person (including a public
officer acting in the exercise of his functions) the court shall declare a
patent null and void-
(a) if the subject of the patent is not patentable under section 1
of this Act; or
(b) if the description of the invention or the claim does not conform with
section 3(2) of this Act; or
(c) if for the same invention a patent has been granted in Nigeria as the
result of a prior application or an application benefiting from an earlier
foreign priority.
(2) Subsection (1) of this section may apply to the whole of a
patent or to any particular claim or claims made by it.
(3) For the purpose of disposing of an application under
subsection (1) of this section, the court on the motion of the applicant or of
its own motion may require the patentee of the relevant patent to produce in
evidence any of the following-
(a) a list of any publications or earlier patents referred to in connection
with a patent application made in respect of the same invention by the patentee
to the appropriate authority in any country outside Nigeria;
(b) any proceedings relating to the patent application in question or any
patent granted in pursuance of it; and
(c) any publications or patents mentioned in any report sent to the patentee by
a governmental or intergovernmental research or investigation institute.
(4) Where a declaration is made under subsection, (1) of this
section-
(a) the patent in question shall be deemed to have been null and void since the
date of its grant, so however that it shall not be necessary to repay royalties
paid by any licensee unless the court so orders, and
(b) the proper officer of the court shall inform the Registrar, who shall
register and notify the declaration.
(5) The court-
(a) shall not make a declaration under subsection (1) of this section without
first giving the patentee an opportunity to be heard;
(b) in applying subsection (1) of this section, shall have regard only to the state
of affairs existing when the proceedings were instituted; and
(c) shall dismiss an application under subsection (1) of this section if the
applicant (not being a public officer) fails to satisfy the court that he has a
material interest in making the application.
10. (1)
Subject to this section, if a patentee (not being
precluded by the terms of any previously registered licence from granting a
further licence) applies in writing to the Registrar for the words
"licences of right" to be registered in respect of his patent, the
Registrar shall enter the words accordingly in the Register and notify the
entry.
(2) Where an entry is made under subsection (1) of this section in
respect of a patent-
(a) any person shall have the right to obtain a licence to exploit the patent
on such terms as, failing agreement between that person and the patentee, shall
be fixed by the court on the application of that person; and
(b) the amount of the actual fees payable in respect of the patent shall be
reduced by half, the reduction first taking effect in relation to the annual
fees first payable after the date of the entry
(3) A patentee may at any time apply to the Registrar for an entry
under subsection (1) of this section to be cancelled; and, if no licences have
been granted under this section or all the grantees agree, the Registrar shall
thereupon cancel the entry and notify the cancellation, but only after payment
of all annual or other fees which would have been payable if the entry had
never been made.
(4) The grantee of a licence under this section shall not be
entitled to assign the licence or grant further licences under it.
(5) Subsections (1)(b), (2)(a), (3) and (6) of section 23 of this
Act shall apply in relation to licences granted under this section as they
apply to licences and contracts under section 23 of this Act.
11. The
provisions of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect in relation to
compulsory licences and the use of patents for the service of government
agencies.
Designs
12.
Any combination of lines or colours or both, and any three-dimensional form,
whether or not associated with colours, is an industrial design, if it is
intended by the creator to be used as a model or pattern to be multiplied by
industrial process and is not intended solely to obtain a technical result.
13. (1)
Subject to this section, an industrial design is registrable if-
(a) it is new; and
(b) it is not contrary to public order or morality,
(2) Where application is made for the registration of an
industrial design, the design shall be presumed to be new at the time of the
application except in so far as the following provisions of this section
provide otherwise-
(3) An industrial design is not new if, before the date of
application for registration, it has been made available to the public anywhere
and at any time by means of description, use or in any other way, unless it is
shown to the satisfaction of the Registrar that the creator of the design could
not have known that it had been made so available.
(4) An industrial design shall not be deemed to have been made
available to the public solely by reason of the fact that within the period of
six months preceding the filing of the application for registration the creator
has exhibited it in an official or officially recognised exhibition.
(5) An industrial design is not new merely because it differs in
minor or inessential ways from an earlier design or concerns a type of product
other than the type with which an earlier design is concerned.
14. (1)
Subject to this section, the right to registration of Right to an industrial
design shall be vested in the statutory creator, registration. that is to say, the person who, whether or not he is the
true creator, is the first to file, or validly to claim a foreign priority for,
an application for registration of the design.
(2) The true creator shall be entitled to be named as such in the
Register, and the entitlement in question shall not be modifiable by contract.
(3) If the essential elements of an application for the
registration of an industrial design have been obtained by the purported
applicant from the creation of another person without the consent of that other
person both to the obtaining of those essential elements and to the filing of
the application, all rights in the application and in any consequent
registration shall be deemed to be transferred to that other person.
(4) Where an industrial design is created in the course of
employment or in the execution of a contract for the performance of specified work,
the ownership of the design shall be vested in the employer or, as the case may
be, in the person who commissioned the work:
Provided that, where the creator is an employee, then, if his contract of
employment does not require him to exercise any creative activity but he has in
creating the design used data or means that his employment has put at his
disposal-
(a) he shall be entitled to fair remuneration taking into account his salary
and the importance of the design which he has created; and
(b) the entitlement in question is not modifiable by contract and may be
enforced by civil proceedings.
15. (1) An, application for the registration of an industrial design
shall be made to the Registrar and
(a) shall contain-
(i) a request for registration of the design,
(ii) the applicant's full name and address and, if that address is outside
Nigeria, an address for service in Nigeria,
(iii) a specimen of the design or a photographic or graphic representation of
the design with any printing block or other means of reproduction from which
the representation was derived,
(iv) an indication of the kind of product (or, where a classification has been
prescribed, the class of product) for which the design will be used, and
(v) such other matter as may be prescribed, and
(b) shall be accompanied by
(i) the prescribed fee,
(ii) where appropriate, a declaration signed by the true creator requesting
that he be named as such in the Register and giving his name and address, and
(iii) if the application is made by an agent, a signed power of attorney (so
however that, notwithstanding any rule of law, legalisation or certification of
the signature of the power of attorney shall be unnecessary).
(2) A single application may relate to any number of industrial
designs not exceeding fifty, if the products to which the designs relate are of
the same kind or, where a classification has been prescribed, of the same class.
(3) Where an applicant for the registration of an industrial
design seeks to avail himself of a foreign priority in respect of an earlier
application made in a country outside Nigeria-
(a) he shall append to his application under subsection (1) of this section a
written declaration showing-
(i) the date and number of the earlier application,
(ii) the country in which the earlier application was made, and
(iii) the name of the person who made the earlier application; and
(b) not more than three months after the making of the application
under subsection (1) of this section, he shall furnish the Registrar with a
copy of the earlier application certified correct by the Industrial Property
Office (or its equivalent) in the country where the earlier application was
made.
16. (1) The
Registrar shall examine every application for registration of an industrial design
as to its conformity with sections 13(1)(b) and 15 of
this Act, and-
(a) if the application fails in any respect to conform with
section 13(1)(b) or 15(1) or (2) of this Act, the Registrar shall reject the
application; and
(b) if the application fails in any respect to conform with section 15(3) of
this Act, the Registrar shall disregard any claim for foreign priority.
(2) Where the examination mentioned in subsection (1) of this
section shows that an application for the registration of an industrial design
satisfies the requirements of sections 13(1)(b} and 15 of this Act, the design
shall be registered in accordance with the application without further
examination and, in particular, without examination of the question whether the
regist