Business · Nigeria
Register a patent
Protect an invention at the Trademarks, Patents & Designs Registry (NIPO) under the Patents & Designs Act: file petition + specification & claims + drawings + inventor's declaration → formal (not substantive) examination → grant, on average ~6 months → annual renewal fees; the patent lapses 20 years from filing.
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Who you will deal with
The steps
- Confirm patentability and priority
- Applicant / patent agent
- The invention must be new, involve an inventive step and be capable of industrial application. A convention application claiming foreign priority must be filed within 12 months of the priority date. Nigeria is a PCT contracting state (national-phase entry available).
- Prior-art assessment; priority documents
- Within 12 months of priority
- Prepare and file the application
- Nigerian Industrial Property Office (NIPO), Abuja
- File a petition/request signed by the applicant or agent, a specification with claims in duplicate, plans and drawings in duplicate, a declaration by the true inventor, a signed power of attorney where an agent acts, and an address for service in Nigeria for foreign applicants. Filing is online via the NIPO portal or at the Abuja registry.
- Petition; specification + claims (x2); drawings (x2); inventor's declaration; power of attorney
- Filing
- Pay fees and undergo formal examination
- NIPO Registrar
- The application fee is ₦15,000 for a non-convention patent and ₦25,000 for a convention patent (agent/professional fees are separate and typically much larger). The Registrar conducts a FORMAL examination only - there is no substantive novelty examination, so grant is not a guarantee of validity.
- Application fee ₦15,000 / ₦25,000
- Formal examination
- Grant, annuities and term
- NIPO
- Grant takes on average ~6 months from filing. Annual (annuity) fees accrue from the filing date and become payable after grant, within 3 months before each due date, with a 6-month grace period plus surcharge. The patent lapses at the end of the 20th year from the filing date.
- Letters patent; annual renewal fees
- ~6 months to grant; 20-year term
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The numbers behind the decision
Knowing the process is half of it. ONYX also tracks the operating environment you are entering — daily grid generation, official FX, state-level input prices and inflation, and sector output — each figure source-linked and dated.