Support for the digitalisation of the Nigerian IP office

Digitalising and modernising African countries’ IP administrations will make the systems more cost-effective, reliable, and responsive to (particularly small and micro) businesses’ needs.

There are several reasons why it is important for an IPO to have scanned their trade mark files.

• Efficiency: scanned files are much easier to search and retrieve than paper files. This can save the office a lot of time and money.

• Accuracy: scanned files are less likely to be lost or damaged than paper files. This can help to ensure that the office has accurate records of all trade marks.

• Security: scanned files can be stored more securely than paper files. This can help to protect the confidentiality of trade mark owners’ information.

• Accessibility: scanned files can be accessed by staff from anywhere in the office, which can improve collaboration and productivity.

• Public access: scanned files can be made available to the public online, which can make it easier for people to search for and learn about trade marks.

In addition to these benefits, scanned trade mark files can also be used to improve the quality of the trade mark examination process. For example, examiners can use scanned files to compare new trade mark applications to existing trademarks to identify potential conflicts.

Overall, scanning trade mark files is a valuable investment for IPOs. It can help to improve efficiency, accuracy, security, accessibility, and the quality of the trade mark examination process.

A number of IPOs have a vast quantity of paper-based trade marks, which need to be scanned in order to migrate the data to the back-office system (IPAS). Nigeria has been selected as the pilot office to be given support for this digitalisation process.

In AWP3, an on-site office assessment was conducted; based on this, the scope of this activity will be focused on the TMs that are currently managed through IPAS.

In practical terms, a local service provider will be selected to scan and capture the active trade marks in the Nigerian IP office, which are currently paper-based.

Nigeria can then be integrated into the EUIPN IT tool TMView. AfrIPI will promote the use of IPAS in the Nigerian IPO as their core back-office system. In addition, it will deploy an integrated EDMS solution, preferably WIPO Publish, that will make it easier to integrate with TMView.

In the second phase, AfrIPI will support the merger of the document systems available locally with IPAS.