trademark
Can company name conflict arise between two companies in different geographic market?
<p>I am about to register a name for an Information Technology company in Nigeria, and it turns out a company with the same name already exists. However, this other company is registered in India. This company is also involved in Information Technology and goes by the name </p>

<pre><code>[company name] Technologies.
</code></pre>

<p>I have decided to use the name:</p>

<pre><code>[company name] ICT Technologies
</code></pre>

<p>What legal implications can this have? Seeing as both companies will operate in different geographic locations, is this really an issue?</p>

<h2>Companies with the same name can be registered in different jurisdictions</h2>

<p>Company law is jurisdiction specific, so "ABC" can be a company in say, Australia, Malaysia and the UK. Most jurisdictions have required suffixes that identify that the name <em>is</em> a company and the type of company it is: if ABC were a private company in each of the jurisdictions it would be ABC Pty Ltd, ABC Pte Ltd and ABC Ltd respectively.</p>

<p>Each jurisdiction will have rules on what names can be used for a company. Nigeria's are <a href="http://new.cac.gov.ng/home/name-reservation/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>.</p>

<p>The only issue you may face is if the company you have identified's name is a trade mark in Nigeria, either by being a registered trade mark or that they have a sufficient Nigerian presence that your name would cause confusion between their goods and services and yours.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Can company name conflict arise between two companies in different geographic market?</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Short, <em>Simplified</em> Answer</strong></p>

<p>No</p>

<p><strong>Longer, more in-depth answer</strong></p>

<p>A company only owns a trademark in the jurisdiction it registers its trademarks in. If someone has registered a company in Nigeria, they don't have to worry about being sued by the indian company in a nigerian court, because the indian company only has a trademark in India. However, this also means that the nigerian company cannot use its trademark in India because the trademark there belongs to the indian company.</p>

<p><strong>However</strong>, there is something called an "international trademark", under an agreement called the <a href="http://www.wipo.int/madrid/en/how_madrid_works.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Madrid Protocol</a>, which allows you to apply for a trademark in many jurisdictions at once. <a href="http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ShowResults.jsp?treaty_id=8" rel="nofollow noreferrer">India is listed as one of the member countries</a> in the protocol, meaning that if this Indian company successfully applied through this procedure, they <em>might</em> have trademarks in all the countries listed. </p>

<p>However again, Nigeria is not listed as one of the member countries in the Madrid Protocol, therefore they won't have a trademark there nonetheless. Meaning a firm with such a trademark in Nigeria won't have to worry, until they plan on using the trademark overseas.</p>

<p>NB: As pointed out in a comment, two companies operating with the same name side by side may still not be a problem (at least in the EU, I cannot vouch for indian/nigerian trademark law), so long as the company that doesn't own the trademarked name infringes on the registrant's trademark (causes confusion to buyers as to who is selling the product/service)</p>
