ABSTRACT
Innovations in Nigeria’s agricultural sector and fintech industries, the emergence of Nigerian textiles, fashion music and film industries on the world stage, underscore the need for significant reforms in over half a century old Nigerian patents, designs and trademarks statutes. The nondeterrent penalties in Nigeria’s intellectual property (IP) laws and the unabated alarming levels of piracy and counterfeiting may have contributed to foreign direct investors opting to situate their African operations in other African countries such as Ghana, Kenya and South Africa despite the apparently larger size of the Nigerian market. Nigeria’s current leadership of the World Trade Organisation accentuates the need for Nigeria to evaluate her IP framework, local needs and her minimum standards obligations under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs). This chapter identifies gaps in the Nigeria’s IP framework and suggests what must be done to plug the gaps.
