JACKSON, ETTI & EDU: YOUR LAW FIRM IN AFRICA

We have long championed Africa’s dynamic and innovative people, ideas, capital, and products. Our team’s in-depth legal, geopolitical, and industry knowledge; “client-centricity”; operational excellence; and holistic approach have won critical acclaim from our many and wide-ranging clients across 35 jurisdictions, six sectors, and 11 practice areas. Our legal teams are strategically located in every African country of business interest, making Jackson, Etti & Edu the go-to firm for all your African legal needs.

OFFICES

• Lagos, Nigeria
• Abuja, Nigeria
• Yaoundé, Cameroon
• Accra, Ghana
• Harare, Zimbabwe

SERVICES

• Brand Protection
• Commercial Intellectual Property & Data
• Immigration, Employment & Private Client Services
• Intellectual Property
• Regulatory, Compliance & Governance

BRAND PROTECTION

Africa’s enormous economic growth and demand for increased products and services have attracted global investors whose brands require launch and protection.

JEE guides clients through Africa‘s complex trademark registration system, with its national and regional frameworks, protocols, and differing legislations. From the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) to the Banjul Protocol on Marks to the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI), JEE will ensure you have every eventuality covered.

COMMERCIAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY & DATA

Africa’s enormous economic growth and demand for increased products and services have attracted global investors whose brands require launch and protection.

JEE guides clients through Africa‘s complex trademark registration system, with its national and regional frameworks, protocols, and differing legislations. From the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) to the Banjul Protocol on Marks to the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI), JEE will ensure you have every eventuality covered. Compliance Organisation (DPCO) services; and Data Protection Officer (DPO) services.

IMMIGRATION, EMPLOYMENT & PRIVATE CLIENT SERVICES

Adopting the African Continental Free Trade Agreement will escalate the free movement of goods, services, and people. Our Immigration, Employment & Private Client team is highly skilled and efficient in advising and executing filings on compliance with labor, employment, and immigration; the preparation and review of employment contracts; collective bargaining; immigration support for staff and corporate set-up; legal advice on deductions and remittances; legal advice on termination, dismissal, and redundancy procedures; and general intelligence on regulatory policies.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Africa‘s innate inventiveness and creativity drive its enviable economic growth in the private sector, and our Intellectual Property (IP) team enables organizations to ensure that growth remains achievable and sustainable. JEE helps clients protect, administer and enforce their IP rights so that innovation and competitiveness can continue to flourish across Africa. Our IP services include brand strength advice; valuation of IP assets; financial value; brand strategy; commercialization options; co-existence and settlement agreements; documentation; licensing; copyright litigation and protection; and the management and prosecution of copyright, trademarks, patents, and designs, among many more essential legal services.

REGULATORY & COMPLIANCE

As businesses experience new commercial arrangements and locations, there is a need for due diligence on regulatory checks and balances. JEE ensures commercial agreements accurately set out the understanding of the parties; compel parties to perform their respective obligations; reduce chances of regulatory fines and disputes; and protect each party‘s interests. Our in-depth knowledge of Africa‘s regulatory environment and our sector-specific experience uniquely position us to assist clients from the start of a contract to its finish. We control contract negotiation; identify key rights and obligations; properly allocate risk; ensure regulatory compliance; and evaluate contract performance.

JEE’s IP practice protects the trademark of a leading FMCG and Pharma brand in Ghana Our Client – a leading player in the FastMoving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and Pharmaceuticals sub-sector – produces a range of products in Trademark Class 5 (pharmaceuticals) and Class 30 (coffee, flour, bread, candy, and rice products), and is widely known for a dietary supplement that contains amino acids and soya beans.

Our Client considered a third-party’s mark (the “infringing mark”) – for porridge flour made from moringa, dandelion, ginger, and brown rice – to be an infringement of their trademark. Our brief was to provide measures that could be taken against the third-party proprietor of the infringing mark and ascertain whether i) the trademark could be protected in Ghana, and ii) what measures the Client could take against the Proprietor of the infringing mark.

At the time of our advisory, trademark infringement and counterfeiting were endemic J WEST AFRICA in Africa as a whole, let alone Ghana, and we are proud to have earned an excellent reputation for the success of our Intellectual Property (IP) practice in combatting IP infringement and becoming the go-to IP law firm in Africa.

JEE’s IP practice prosecutes 17 classes of trademark for a multinational in Ghana

As part of a global rebrand strategy, our Client needed trademark prosecution services to file in 17 different classes in the Ghanaian jurisdiction and under the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI). This required in-depth knowledge of the jurisdiction and high-level project management competencies in West and Francophone Africa.

The case was highly significant because of its volume and the complexities of its trans-border trade. Ghana operates a two-phased filing system, while OAPI operates a one-phase but multi-class system. Jackson, Etti & Edu‘s expertise in these jurisdictions enabled our Client to successfully complete the prosecution of their trademarks.

JEE’s Energy & Infrastructure practice advises Lagos State on its flagship urban redevelopment strategy

With a population of more than 15 million, Lagos is one of the world’s 37 “megacities”. Orange Island is the Lagos State Government’s (LASG) premier urban redevelopment project to create a future-proof satellite “smart city” in the Lekki, Badagry, and Ikorodu districts of Lagos State.

Our Energy & Infrastructure team acted as Legal Adviser for the public-private partnership between Lagos State Government (LASG) and the Orange Island Development Company Limited for the dredging, reclamation, development, and management of 150 hectares of land from the Lagos Lagoon for the creation of the Orange Island.

JEE’s Banking & Finance practice advises a Chinese state bank on a loan facility to the Nigerian government

Our Financial Services Team advised the ExportImport Bank of China (CEXIM) in relation to its multi-billion-dollar concessionary sovereign-loan facility to the Federal Government of Nigeria for the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan Railway. The 1,315-kilometre route will connect Lagos to Abuja and then Kano via Minna and Kaduna.

JEE conducted legal due diligence on the project and advised on the EPC contract for the project, the loan agreement, and other financial documents. In addition, we advised on regulatory, policy, litigation, and other public-interest matters.

JEE’s Energy & Infrastructure practice acts for Lagos State on urban residential development projects

JEE acted for Lagos State Development & Property Corporation (LSDPC), the oldest state property development company in Lagos State, with respect to the preparation and drafting of Deeds of Assignment and other conveyancing documents for some 1,000 residential buildings (detached houses; semi-detached houses; terrace houses; and apartment buildings) spread across seven residential housing estates in Lagos State.

JEE’s Capital Markets practice prepares Nigeria’s foremost insurance company for an Initial Public Offering

Standard Alliance Insurance Plc (SAI) is a highly-ranked Nigerian insurance company renowned for its general and risk insurance as well as life assurance and annuity products. JEE acted as Solicitor for SAI’s public offer of N2.2 billion of its securities to provide much-needed capital for the smooth operation of its business.

Our role involved advising on the ramification of this transaction and an appropriate transaction structure. We also delivered regulatory and compliance advisory services, ensuring that SAI adhere to the practices and procedures of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange. We made sure the conduct and completion of SAI’s board meeting were in accordance with SEC requirements; carried out due diligence on SAI; and prepared the share prospectus. We also reviewed the Vending Agreement.

JEE’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution team litigates for a US oil and gas multinational

JEE undertook Litigation Portfolio Management for four Nigerian subsidiaries of a leading American international Oil & Gas conglomerate. Our services involved:

• Defending 200 labour cases instituted by ex-employees against one of the subsidiaries, currently ongoing at the National Industrial Court, Enugu and Port Harcourt Division, Nigeria;
• Prosecuting and defending all disputes, including court cases and arbitral proceedings involving the Company in Nigeria (we have overseen about 100 cases from 2001 to date);
• Advising on foreign arbitral proceedings/ disputes arising from commercial contracts between the Company and other contracting parties;
• Initiating and prosecuting winding-up proceedings against an indigenous oil company over US$16.9 million indebtedness;
• Negotiating, mediating, and settling labour disputes between the Company and its employees;
• Mediating in governmental and community relations matters; and
• Negotiating, mediating, and resolving disputes between the Company and subcontractors.

JEE’s Intellectual Property team advises the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on patents and trademarks

JEE advised the UNDP on the worldwide patent and trademark registration of EATSET (Emergency Autologous Transfusion Set). This medical device, invented by Nigeria’s Brigadier General Dr. Oviemo Ovadje, was a scientific development of global importance: EATSET collects the blood from internal bleeding while simultaneously transfusing the patient, allowing for a greater chance of recovery from traumatic injury.

JEE’s Intellectual Property team trademarks medical advances by Nigeria’s foremost pharmaceutical research institute

JEE advised and handled the worldwide trademark registrations for Nigeria’s National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRID), based in Udu, in Delta State, near Abuja. Among many other medical advances, NIPRID has developed the pharmaceuticals Niprisan and Nicosan, used in the treatment of sickle-cell disease.

A day in the life of JEE

In addition to the many complex, sensitive and lengthy transactions we perform on behalf of our international and regional clients, JEE’s expert teams regularly advise and represent leading corporations on the many unique challenges and opportunities presented by Africa’s rapidly developing economy. We have successfully: – advised a leading Nigerian bank on IP securitisation issues with respect to an N300 million credit transaction;

• advised a global media company and conducted IP due diligence on a chain of companies in the Nigerian Media and Advertising sector with respect to an acquisition bid by an international media company; and
• represented the Nokia Corporation in prosecuting an Intellectual Property Right Enforcement Litigation against offenders dealing in the importation, marketing, sale, and distribution of counterfeits of its mobile telephones and accessories in Nigeria.

For further details please contact:
Koye Edu, Managing Partner
koye.edu@jee.africa

JEE Nigeria

Lagos

Victoria Island: RCO Court, 3-5 Sinrai Daranijo Street
Victoria Island, Lagos; jee.africa

Ikeja: 1st Floor, Ereke House
Plot 15, CIPM Avenue, CBD
Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos; jee.africa

Abuja: 42 Moses Majekodunmi Crescent
Utako, Federal Capital Territory
Abuja; jee.africa

JEE Ghana
Accra: 3 Emmause, 2nd Close
Akosombo House, Labone
Accra: jee.africa
PO Box 14951, Accra, Ghana

JEE secures copyright in Zambia for Chinese Management Consultancy

Our Client, a global management consulting firm based in China, owns a copyright registered in China. They discovered an infringement of their copyright in Zambia by a company that had filed to register a trademark based on our Client’s
existing copyright.

As our Client had not registered copyright nor obtained prior trademark rights in Zambia, JEE’s challenge was how to oppose the opposing party’s trademark application,
which was an infringement of our Client’s existing rights in their copyright.

JEE’s brief included a painstaking review of the body of laws governing trademarks and copyright in Zambia. We also researched global developments in the area of copyright
infringement in relation to trademarks.

Our approach also involved jurisprudential dialectics into treaties and municipal laws. The case broadened JEE‘s reach as a truly global intellectual property law specialist and led to an international appreciation of Zambia’s rich trademark jurisprudence. The interplay between treaties and municipal
laws in the protection of intellectual property rights were also brought to the fore.

JEE advises a private equity firm on the real estate sale

JEE is advising a Nigerian private equity firm in relation to the proposed sale of one of its real estate assets, acquired under its Capital Alliance Property Investment Company
(CAPIC) Fund, which is owned by a special purpose vehicle (SPV): Lurock Properties Limited (Lurock). The entire share capital of Lurock is owned by an investment vehicle registered in Mauritius.

JEE conducted a legal audit on the property and Lurock and is also responsible for drafting, reviewing, and negotiating the transaction documents; providing advisory on the structure of payment of the purchase price with considerations on repatriation of capital by the Mauritius entity; and other post-completion matters.

The deal was particularly complex due to the legal, regulatory, and tax considerations of the transaction structure. The deal was structured as a sale and subscription to shares to ensure tax efficiency and avoid regulatory and perfection fees, which would otherwise be applicable should the transaction be structured as a land sale.

JEE also had the consideration to Nigeria’s Finance Act 2021, which became effective on 1 January 2022. The statute changed aspects of the taxation of share acquisitions in Nigeria and now applies Capital Gains Tax to earnings accruing from all share divestment in Nigeria subject to some exceptions. JEE structured the transaction to be tax efficient in light of these recent provisions of the Finance Act 2021.

For further details please contact:
Ngozi Aderibigbe
ngozi.aderibigbe@jee.africa
Zimbabwe
JEE Harare: 38 Clairwood Road
Alexandra Park, Harare; jee.africa

JEE provides record-breaking IP advice across 14 African nations

JEE advised a Client on Intellectual Property legislation and trademark registration across jurisdictions in 14 African countries: Burundi; DRC; Egypt; Ethiopia; Ghana; Kenya; Liberia; Madagascar; Mozambique; Nigeria; Rwanda; Sierra
Leone; South Africa; and Tanzania. We proceeded with our Client’s instructions to prosecute by coordinating with associates in the 14 countries. To date, this remains a record volume of prosecution of trademarks for a single client.

JEE prosecutes trademark in Seychelles

JEE advised a Client with respect to a trademark prosecution in Seychelles. We have undertaken more than 80 prosecution instructions on behalf of our Client to ensure
that they maintain robust protection over their trademarks.

For further information, please contact:
Fola Olusanya
fola.olusanya@jee.africa

JEE Cameroon
Yaoundé: 3rd Floor, Viccui Building
Apartment 15-16, Carr Street, New Town
Yaoundé; jee.africa