TITLE:
Collateralizing Intellectual Property Rights under Nigeria’s Secured Transactions Legal Framework: Lessons from a Comparative Reflection
AUTHORS:
Joseph Agburuwhuo Nwobike
KEYWORDS:
Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act 2017, National Collateral Registry, Copyright Act 2022, Trade Marks Act 1965, Patents and Designs Act 1970, Intellectual Property, Security Interests, MSMEs
JOURNAL NAME:
Beijing Law Review,
Vol.17 No.2,
June
2,
2026
ABSTRACT: Nigeria’s Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act 2017 formally recognizes intellectual property (IP) as an eligible form of movable collateral. Yet the country’s principal IP statutes: i.e. the Trademarks Act, the Copyright Act, and the Patents and Designs Act, continue to function as discrete regimes, each maintaining a separate register. The absence of integration with the National Collateral Registry administered by the Central Bank of Nigeria undermines the principles of publicity, predictability, and efficiency, thereby inflating transaction costs and perpetuating legal uncertainty for lenders and innovators seeking to leverage IP rights as collateral for credit. This article advances the case for a unitary collateral registry that would harmonize the IP registers with the National Collateral Registry. Drawing upon Nigerian legislations and comparative insights from Article 9 of the U.S. Uniform Commercial Code, it proposes a set of legal, technical, and institutional reforms designed to render IP a more reliable and bankable asset within Nigeria’s secured credit market.