Chapter 9 Multinational Enterprises and the Protection of Trademarks in Colonial Nigeria during the Interwar Years

In: The Silent Peacemaker: Intellectual Property Rights and the Interwar International Legal Order, 1919–1939
Author:
Emmanuel Kolawole Oke
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Abstract

This chapter examines how trademark disputes were resolved by colonial judges and colonial courts in colonial Nigeria during the interwar years. In determining the likelihood of confusion and deception in trademark and passing off disputes, these colonial courts drew a distinction between literate and illiterate consumers and they typically found a likelihood of confusion or deception in disputes involving marks that they thought might be confusing to illiterate consumers. This chapter contends that this approach to resolving trademark disputes during the interwar years is best explained by the reliance on the principle of local exceptionalism and the perceived need of the colonial courts to maintain colonial difference. This was essential to safeguarding the commercial interests of the multinational enterprises that were regarded as pioneers of trade in colonial Nigeria and the protection of the economic interests of the colonial authorities.

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