Nigeria

Firm overview

Von Seidels is a specialist IP law firm in Africa with a team of over 100 people. We assist clients both locally and internationally in obtaining all forms of IP protection and deals with all IP related commercial activities, including agreements, valuations and litigation.

Our head office is in Cape Town and we have a satellite office in Johannesburg, South Africa. We have offices in ARIPO (Namibia), OAPI (Cameroon) and Nigeria.

Von Seidels Nigeria office is based in the country’s capital and IP centre, Abuja. We partnered with experienced Nigerian IP attorney Okey Onyekanma to establish this office.

Our offices cover the majority of the African continent. South Africa, ARIPO, OAPI and Nigeria combined comprise 70% of Africa’s countries. In the rest of Africa we work with trusted agents. 

With many years of experience working in Africa, we have vast local knowledge and understanding of country-specific legislative requirements and issues across this continent.

Firm overview

Inventa is a leading Intellectual Property Law Firm, specialized in the protection and internationalization of trademarks, patents, industrial designs, copyright and domain names. With over 50 years of experience in Portugal, the European Union and all the African jurisdictions, Inventa has served thousands of clients holding large trademark and patent portfolios, and other entities dealing with R&D daily. Furthermore, our experience allows us to understand the caveats of the different industries since we maintain relationships with clients from different sectors, including food and beverages companies, communications, IT, pharmaceuticals, manufacturers, oil & gas companies, financial institutions, business services companies and more.

Our headquarters are based in Lisbon, Portugal, and we also have offices in Angola, Mozambique, Nigeria, Cape Verde, Sao Tome, East Timor and Macau. Inventa also holds a large network of representatives all across the African region, including representation before the ARIPO and OAPI regional organizations, committed to delivering global coverage with local experience.

Due to our wide network of contacts and associate level, we offer our clients a highly specialized team of professionals in the Intellectual Property field and related strategic sectors. Our professionals guarantee personalized and efficient accompaniment in all our services.

Firm overview

S.P.A. Ajibade & Co. is a leading corporate and commercial law firm in Nigeria.

Our Intellectual Property unit is involved in the maintenance, protection and enforcement of our clients’ industrial and intellectual property rights either in isolation or as an offshoot of related transactional matters. Some of these areas include: Entertainment and Media, Art, Sports, Trademarks, Copyright, Patents and Trade Secrets as well as licensing and ancillary international trade issues.

We are particularly skilled in all maintenance work at the Nigerian Trade Marks and Patents Registry involving the application for, publication, registration and renewals of trademarks. We also undertake the assignment of such marks and the recordation of Registered User Agreements to third parties or subsidiaries. Our expertise also extends to the filing, prosecution or defense of our clients’ applications in opposition proceedings before the Registrar of Trademarks.

In the area of enforcement, our Firm’s Intellectual Property unit in tandem with the Dispute Resolution Department is versed in the prosecution and/or defense of Copyright, Trademarks and Patent infringement actions at various levels. We can obtain ex-part, interlocutory, Anton Piller or Class injunctions depending on the exigencies of an action as well as instigate anti-counterfeiting proceedings under the Nigerian Merchandise Marks Act.

Our Firm handles applications for the issuance of product licenses before the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and can advise on transfer of technology requirements within the Nigerian investment climate, through the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP).

Our E-Commerce practice is budding apace with the industry in Nigeria and as we continue to build capacity in the area, our lawyers assist clients to understand the impact of E - Commerce and related issues on their businesses and work with them to develop legal strategies they need to address this impact effectively. Our Firm provides strategic advice to its web-based business clients on the risks and opportunities entailed in the steadily increasing number of state and federal laws, rules and regulations governing consumer-oriented retail and business-to-business electronic commerce.

As one of Nigeria’s leading business law practices, our practice is well positioned to support internet-based companies on matters relating to Intellectual Property and new technologies, Intellectual Property content regulation and website management, data protection, encryption and privacy, electronic contracting, protection of domain names, jurisdictional issues, online marketing and the valuation of related Intellectual Property portfolios together with the licensing of such rights.

Firm overview