CAC registration and trademark registration are two different systems solving two different problems. Business owners routinely discover the difference only when a competitor adopts their name.
A business owner registers a company at the Corporate Affairs Commission, receives a certificate, frames it, and reasonably concludes that the name is now theirs. Two years later a competitor begins trading under a confusingly similar mark, and the owner discovers that the certificate on the wall does not do what they assumed it did.
Two registers, two different jobs
CAC registration creates and identifies a legal entity. It tells the world that a company or business name exists, who its officers are, and where it is registered. Its function is corporate identity.
Trademark registration creates a monopoly in a sign used in trade. It gives you the exclusive right to use a mark in relation to particular goods or services, and the right to stop others from using a mark that is identical or confusingly similar in that class. Its function is commercial protection.
Incorporation tells the state who you are. A trademark tells your competitors what they cannot take.
They are administered separately, examined against different criteria, and one confers nothing of the other. It is entirely possible — and common — for a company to be validly incorporated under a name it has no right to use as a brand.
What a registered trademark gives you
- An exclusive statutory right to the mark in your registered class of goods or services.
- A basis to oppose or cancel later applications for confusingly similar marks.
- A cause of action for infringement, without having to prove reputation from scratch.
- A licensable, assignable asset that can be valued, franchised or used in a transaction.
- Standing to act against counterfeiters and unauthorised distributors.
What you can register
Words, logos, devices, and combinations of them, provided the mark is distinctive and not descriptive of the goods themselves. Purely descriptive names — the kind that simply say what the product is — are the hardest to register and the weakest to enforce, which is worth knowing before you commission the branding.
The process, and how long it takes
- A search of the register to establish whether the mark, or something close to it, is taken.
- Filing the application in the correct class or classes, with the specification of goods or services.
- Examination, followed by an acceptance letter if the Registry raises no objection.
- Publication in the Trade Marks Journal, opening a two-month window for opposition.
- Issue of the certificate where no opposition succeeds.
Realistically, plan for nine to eighteen months from filing to certificate. Registration, once granted, runs for seven years in the first instance and is renewable for successive fourteen-year periods thereafter.
Classes matter more than owners expect
Protection is granted class by class. A clothing brand registered in the class covering apparel is not automatically protected against the same name used on cosmetics or on a restaurant. If your business plausibly extends across categories, the classes should be selected with that in mind at the outset — adding them later means a fresh application and a fresh queue.
What to do now
If your brand carries any value at all, run a search this month. A search is inexpensive and it answers the only question that matters: whether the name you are building on is available, or whether you are investing in someone else's asset.
We conduct searches, file and prosecute applications, defend oppositions and act in infringement proceedings. Bring us the name and the logo, and we will tell you where you stand.
Note. This article is general commentary on Nigerian law and is not legal advice. Its application depends entirely on your facts. Speak to counsel before acting on anything you read here.