Intellectual Property
Our Intellectual Property Practice Group consists of knowledgeable and experienced practitioners well abreast of the modern trends and development in the intellectual property landscape.
We provide advice and representation to foreign and domestic clients in connection with the identification, protection, exploitation, management and enforcement of their intellectual property rights. We advise our clients as to their legal obligations in terms of registration and renewal of their IP licenses, exploitation and transfer of their rights, assertion of their ownership against infringement and competition, and regulatory compliance with national and international laws. Our IP Practice covers Media and Entertainment, Telecommunications, Information Technology and Franchising sectors.
Lawyers in our IP Group are active members of different national and international intellectual property organizations such as the International Trademarks Association (INTA) and Intellectual Property Law Association of Nigeria (IPLAN); and are continually updating their knowledge of the field through relevant trainings and certifications. We are able to effectively manage multijurisdictional IP portfolios on behalf of our clients. We as well represent our clients in IP disputes before the appropriate dispute settlement authorities. Bloomfield offers you a one stop shop for all advertising and marketing, patents, technology and trademark needs and client satisfaction is our topmost priority.
Representative Experience
- Advising Mansfield Properties Limited in connection with its opposition to an infringement and attempted registration of its tradename as a trademark by a competitor in the Real Estate industry.
- Advising Maryland Mall Limited on all aspects of adverts placed (i) on the LED billboard (the largest board in Sub-Saharan Africa) mounted on the external wall of the Mall, and (ii) within the Mall.
- Advised Simplifyd Solutions Limited (“Simplifyd") in relation to a Distribution Licence Agreement with Firstwave Cloud Technologies Limited, a global cloud security technology company, in respect of Simplifyd's cloud security software - SimplifydDNS.
- Advising Blackpace Africa Limited, the exclusive distributor of Carbon Champagne (“Carbon”) in Africa, on its registration of Carbon with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control.
- Advised Cibel Media Limited in its incorporation and procurement of regulatory permits, including Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA) Outdoor Practitioner Permit. We continue to advise Cibel on it advertising services with third parties.
- Advising Lekki Retailtainment Limited in relation to a management agreement with a multinational hospitality company for the marketing and management of the aparthotel to be built on the Lekki Mall, in the Lekki area of Lagos, Nigeria.
- Advised PurpleMoney Microfinance Bank Limited in relation to the mobile money wallet services platform created in conjunction with Swipetech Limited.
- Advised the Lagos Business School, in conjunction with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, on the legal structuring, framework and regulatory climate surrounding the operation of FinTech in Nigeria, focusing on the role of Digital Financial Services (“DFS”), a comparative analysis of its framework with other developing nations, including the institutional framework and regulatory supervision over the operation of DFS within Nigeria.
- Advising Lubari Power Limited in connection with providing FinTech solutions in its engineering, procurement and construction contracts.
- Advised an international upscale hotel management company (with over 16,000 staff members, represented in 24 countries with 83 hotels and, resorts) and its Nigerian affiliate in the development of a world-class hotel with approximately 200 rooms in Nigeria. Our scope of work includes the review of the Management Agreement, the Trademark Licensing Agreement and the Marketing & Central Services Agreement to ensure their compliance with Nigerian laws and regulations, and registration of the requisite documents with the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP).
- Advising Greenovate Platforms Limited, a digital foreign exchange platform for the trading of foreign currency, in connection with its licensing requirements, incorporation within Nigeria and in overseas territories, legal consultancy on the location of its servers and intellectual property rights as applicable under the Trademark registration in Nigeria.
- Advising Comflo, a blockchain platform that provides secure transaction management and risk management practices, with regards to its provision of technology solutions.
- Advised on franchises for the establishment of a chain of South East Asian themed restaurants in Nigeria and Ghana.
- Advised an international upscale hotel management company (with over 16,000 staff members, represented in 24 countries with 83 hotels and, resorts) and its Nigerian affiliate in the development of a world-class hotel with approximately 200 rooms in Nigeria. Our scope of work includes the review of the Management Agreement, the Trademark Licensing Agreement and the Marketing & Central Services Agreement to ensure their compliance with Nigerian laws and regulations, and registration of the requisite documents with the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP).
- We also manage intellectual property portfolios for, and render advice to, several international agents/firms. Currently advising on trademarks and patent registrations for Telford Offshore, Westport Power Inc., PMP Germany, JAC Motors (officially known Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co., Ltd), and JSC "Pharmasynthez".
