Before you spend money filing a trademark, find out if the name is even free to take. A search takes minutes. A rejected application does not give you your money back.
Why you search before you file
The Trademarks Registry keeps every registered and pending mark on one record. Searching that record tells you if your proposed name, or something close to it, is already claimed in your class.
Skip this step and you only find out at examination stage, months after you paid to file. By then the fee is spent either way.
Where to run the search and what it costs
Searches run through the Trademarks Registry's own portal at portal.iponigeria.com, the same login used for filing and for checking a publication in the Trade Marks Journal.
The search costs ₦2,500 for each class. If your product or service could sit under more than one class, budget a search for each one, not just the class you think is most obvious.
Reading the result
A search result shows marks that are identical or close to what you typed, inside the class you searched. Nothing similar showing up is a good sign, not a certainty.
The Trademarks Registry runs its own examination after you file, and that review can still raise an objection a search missed. Names that sound alike, or that share a distinctive word, are where most disagreements start.
What a clash means for your application
If your search turns up a close match, filing anyway rarely helps. The safer move is changing the name, adding a distinctive element, or picking a different class if your use genuinely differs from the existing mark's.
A trademark lawyer can read a borderline result better than a first-time applicant can. When the search result is not a clean no, that is the point to ask one.
Moving from a clear search to filing
Once your search comes back clear, you are ready to start the application itself in the same portal, under the class you searched. Nigeria's register runs 45 classes (1 to 34 for goods, 35 to 45 for services), so confirm you picked the right one before you carry on.
Our guide to filing the application covers that next step, including the application fee and what happens after you submit.
Common mistakes
- Searching the wrong class. A clear result in class 25 tells you nothing about class 35. Match the search to where your goods or services actually sit.
- Treating a clear search as final. Examination happens after filing, and it can still raise a query a search did not catch.
- Searching only the exact name. Close variants and phonetic near-matches cause more disputes than identical copies do.
- Waiting too long after a clear search. Another applicant can file for a similar name between your search and your application. Move promptly once you know the field is clear.
If you are also weighing whether a business name at the CAC already protects your brand, read business name versus trademark next. For the wider set of regulators a small business meets, see the SME regulators hub.