The role of intellectual property law in the regulation of micro and small and medium enterprises

Abstract

A lot of businesses start with humble beginnings and grow into big corporations, therefore how it starts matters. The hallmark of a good business is its product and the way to distinguish one product from another is through the use of trademarks and its registered name. While trademarks consist of signs as it is used to indicate a connection in the course of trade between the goods and some person having the right either as proprietor or as a registered user to use the mark, a business name is simply an alphabetic name used for the identification of business registered to become a legal entity. The crux of this paper is to examine the legal framework for the regulation of business names and trademarks in Nigeria. The paper adopts a doctrinal research methodology. It analyses the various forms of business unit in Nigeria by examining the legal implications. Thus, the article presents an introduction to the general structure of Micro and Small and Medium (MSMEs), business names and trademarks law. This is followed by offering an analysis that focus on the MSMEs and what they need to know to help boost the total outlook and of the business. The paper however concludes that MSMEs need to know the laws and regulations that guide the setting up of their business as trademarks are important assets of any business and their use must be done in relation to other law and regulation.