Nigerian patent renewals – calculating the renewal date

The Nigerian Patents Act and Rules

According to sections 7 and 8 of the Nigerian Patents and Designs Act (Chapter 344, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990):

7 (1) Subject to this Act, a patent shall expire at the end of the twentieth year from the date of the filing of the relevant patent application.

(2) A patent shall lapse if the prescribed annual fees are not duly paid in respect of it.

…

17. Subject to regular payment of the annual fees due, patents shall be valid for twenty years from the date of the filing of the relevant patent application.

According to the Patent Rules (under section 30 Commencement: 1st December 1971):

17. Subject to regular payment of the annual fees due, patents shall be valid for twenty years from the date of the filing of the relevant patent application.

18. (1) Patents form No. 5 together with the prescribed fee shall be lodged in the Patent Office not later than the due date, otherwise the patent will cease. …

Note: None of the sections in the Act or Rules that relates to “annual fees” refers to either the “priority date” or to a “foreign / convention application”.

The Act and Rules are clear that:

• a Nigerian patent remains in force from the “filing date”;
• annual renewals are payable; and
• subject to payment of annual fees, a Nigerian patent remains “valid” for 20 years from the “date of filing”.

It is also accepted that a total of 19 renewals are paid during the term of a Nigerian patent.

Although the Patent Act and Rules refer to “annual” renewals, it is not 100% clear when each “annual payment” is made. However, since the relevant sections of the Act and Rules only refer to the “the date of filing”, a reasonable interpretation is that the renewals are payable on each anniversary of the “date of filing”, e.g.:

This interpretation from the Nigerian Patent Act and Rules applies to both Nigerian direct and convention patents. However, for Nigerian PCT national phase patents, where (in order to comply with WIPO Regulations) the “date of filing” should be interpreted as the “date of filing the international / PCT patent”, this interpretation would require Nigerian PCT national phase patent renewals to be paid on each anniversary of the PCT filing date.

It is also worth noting that Section 12 of the Nigerian Patents and Designs (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill, 2021 (HB 1304) (which has yet to be passed in to law) clarifies that “in order to maintain the patent or patent application, an annual fee shall be paid in advance to the Registrar for each year, starting one year after the filing date of the application for grant of the patent.“