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| Photo Credit: Gemini AI |
If you're just starting a business, there are many reasons not to be in a hurry to register your trade name. After all, such things require money and as if the economy is not already bad enough, the business may be taking off slowly. Worse still, you don't even know if it will scale. Surely, they will understand if you decide to wait a little bit more. And because you are so clever, you hurry to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) website to register the business. You take a deep breath afterwards, and breathe easier. It should suffice, for now.
Yes! It does—until it doesn't.
I bet that's what the owners of Fastest Cakes thought when they started their business in Ibadan, with a name promising customers more in less time—and with a CAC certificate to show for it. I imagine their hearts were at peace. Sadly, not for long.
It turns out that there is another Fastest Cakes that has been in operation since 2021 and is popular for its fast selling cakes in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja. They decided to extend their heavenly delight to Ibadan only to find another bakery operating under the same name. Of course, they didn't find it funny. This new bakery might as well parade themselves as them, the original, and steal their customers. So they took the matter up with the CAC requesting that the other bakery rebrand.
Before you wonder about the fate of the other bakery, I will tell you. Two different brands cannot coexist within the same classification/industry (food service, in this case). It may be forgivable under different industries, but in the same industry? It's the best formula for customer chaos and consumer confusion. It is like giving your two identical children the same name. In law, where two equities are equal, the first in time prevails. 2025 v 2021. Do the maths. It was not a surprise when CAC issued a notice asking them to desist from bearing the name.
But that's not the only reason, CAC certification is not enough. In fact, it is only the beginning. It is the law telling you, 'I see you. I know you're there.' It is legal recognition, but it does not give you exclusive rights to the brand name. To own it, you must register it with the Trademark registry.
However, this does not necessarily mean that the other bakery stole the name or something. After all, two people can reach a similar conclusion independently—like how Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz independently discovered calculus. Yet, some sources credit Isaac Newton more because his ideas were regarded to have come first before Gottfried's. This is why it is important to do a trademark search before picking a brand name in the first place. You must be intentional about these things!
Imagine if the original Fastest Cakes had not registered their brand name, years of hard work would have gone down the drain.
Now you know better, do better.
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