– Patents and Designs Act of 1971, Cap. P2, codified in the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
– Design Rules 1971.

– Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Lisbon Act 1958, since September 2, 1963.
– WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, since January 1, 1995.
– Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), since April 9, 1995.

Applicant: may be the actual creator of the design or an assignee.

Definition: any combination of lines or color, or both, and any three-dimensional form, whether or not associated with colors, 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 intended solely to obtain a technical result.

Serial registration: allowed up to fifty if the products are of the same kind.

Priority: Convention application must be claimed at filing. Priority documents must be filed three months after filing the application.

Novelty: required.

Secrecy: filing under sealed cover is possible for a period of twelve months from the date of the application, under section 18 (1) Patents and Designs Act Cap. P2 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

Territory covered: Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. A request for registration of the design;
2. The applicant’s full name and address, and if that address is outside Nigeria, an address for service in Nigeria;
3. 4 specimens of the design or photographic or graphic representations of the design with any printing block or other means of reproduction;
4. 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;
5. If the application is made by an agent, a signed power of attorney is required. Legalization or certification of the signature of the power of attorney is not required;
6. The prescribed fee;
7. 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;
8. Statement of novelty.

Electronic filing: possible; all required documents (in PDF format) must be uploaded at the time of filing.

Electronic signatures: are not accepted (only wet signatures). Scanned copies of wet signed documents are accepted for filing purposes only and the original must be submitted to the Registry before the application can be processed further.

For a change of name or address: certificate of change of name or address, simply signed, with verified English translation.

Formal examination only. If the documents required to be filed are complete and in order, the Registrar issues a certificate of registration containing: (a) the number of the design in order of registration; (b) the name and address of the registered owner; (c) the date of the application; (d) if foreign priority is claimed: (1) an indication of the fact, (2) the number and date of the application on which the claim is based and the name of the country where the application was made; (e) a reproduction or representation of the design and an indication of the kind (or the class) of products for which it will be used; and (f) where appropriate, the name and address of the true creator.

Amendment: if the Registrar thinks fit any document or drawing or other representation of a design may be amended, and any irregularity in procedure may be rectified on such terms as the Registrar may direct.

Duration: registration of an industrial design is effective at first for five years from the date of application.

Renewal: it may be renewed for two further periods of five years, each on payment of the prescribed fees. The renewal fees must be paid within the twelve months immediately preceding the renewal period. There is a six-month period of grace after the beginning of the renewal period.

Nullification of registration: the court could declare the registration of an industrial design to be null and void if among other things, the design, because of its failure to conform with the requirements, ought not to have been registered.

Infringement of rights: the rights of a design owner are infringed if another person without the license of the design owner does or causes the doing of any act which that other person is precluded from doing.