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Every business is required to be registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in compliance with the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2021.

Sections 19 & Section 863 of CAMA provides that it is unlawful to carry out business in Nigeria without registration. It is therefore mandatory to incorporate a business in Nigeria.

The business structures available in Nigeria by the provisions of CAMA are

Sole proprietorship, partnerships, Incorporates Trustees, and Companies. CAMA these structures governs from formation to winding up.

CAMA established the CAC to supervise and regulate the formations of all the allowable business structures.

A company can be registered as a company limited by shares, limited by guarantee, or unlimited company. All these can either be private or public.

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A patent is a government license that confers an exclusive legal right for a specified period (20 years in Nigeria) It gives the sole right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention in the country it is obtained.

Inventions that are patentable are:

1. inventions that are new, or inventions that constitute an improvement upon a patented invention that is new or inventions that result from an inventive activity that is capable of industrial application

(an invention is capable of industrial application if that invention can be manufactured or used in any kind of industry, including agriculture)

2. Plant varieties, animal species and essentially biological processes for the breeding plants or animals, other than microbiological processes and products.

3. Inventions that are not contrary to public order or morality.

The right to a patent in respect of an invention is vested in the “statutory inventor”. a statutory inventor is person who whether or not he is the true inventor is the first to file a patent application or validly claim a foreign priority for a work.

The laws that regulates patent in Nigeria are:

1. The Patents and Designs Act (The Act): This is the substantive legislation on patents and designs in Nigeria. 2. 1971 Patents Rules: This is the principal procedural guideline for the Patents Registry on the registration of patents

The Patents and Designs Act (the Act) provides for the requirements and procedure for how to register a patent in Nigeria.

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Registration of a trademark or design offers the owner an exclusive right to the trademark or design. The exclusive right is regarded to be infringed by any person who uses the mark or any other mark which is identical to the mark and is likely to deceive or confuse the public . Designs and Trademarks are registered by the Trademarks, Patents and Designs Registry under the Commercial Law Department of the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment. Simply put the registration of design and trademarks protects you from someone deliberately or unintentionally passing off your goods as his/her own.

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Firstly, Sections 19 & Section 863 of the companies and allied matters act provides that it is unlawful to carryout business in Nigeria without registration. Secondly registring your business gives your business a legal personality. The types of companies you can register under the Act according to section 21 are ‘company limited by shares’ ‘ unlimited company’ ‘a company limited by guarantee’ Any one of the above companies can be either private or public. The most common is private company limited by shares. You may also register as a Business name.