1 month ago
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By Innocent Anaba
The Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, has directed a institution operating nether the sanction KPMG Advisory Services to alteration its sanction wrong six weeks owed to similarities with KPMG Nigeria, a well-known nonrecreational services firm.
In a missive dated September 19, 2025, by Chidimma Nwite connected behalf of the Registrar General, the CAC, said that the concern sanction KPMG Advisory Services (BN 2145583), registered connected October 11, 2010, was erroneously approved contempt the anterior registration of KPMG Nigeria.
The committee emphasised that the directive was issued successful enactment with Section 30(1) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, CAMA, 2020, which prohibits the registration of names that are identical oregon confusingly akin to existing entities.
Failure to comply wrong the stipulated timeframe, the missive noted, would compel the CAC to instrumentality indispensable enforcement action.
A transcript of the missive was besides sent to the instrumentality steadfast of Idowu Sofola & Co. for grounds purposes.
Recall that the Court of Appeal sitting successful Lagos, had connected July 10, 2025, nullified the CAC’s registration of the concern sanction ‘KPMG Professional Services.’
The nullification came aft a prolonged ineligible conflict spanning implicit 2 decades.
The decision, delivered by Justice Abdullahi Bayero, sided with KPMG Nigeria, marking a important triumph successful the extortion of firm marque individuality successful the country.
The appellate tribunal granted each 4 reliefs sought by KPMG Nigeria against the CAC (1st respondent) and KPMG Professional Services (2nd respondent).
The crux of the court’s ruling was that the registration of the 2nd respondent’s sanction was improper and misleading nether Section 662(1)(d) of the CAMA 1990, present updated to Section 852 of CAMA 2020.
This conception prohibits the registration of names that are identical oregon deceptively akin to existing ones.
The saga began successful 2002 erstwhile KPMG Nigeria, comprising its well-established audit, tax, and consulting arms, challenged the CAC’s determination to registry a caller entity bearing the sanction “KPMG Professional Services.”
KPMG Nigeria argued that the recently registered sanction was deceptively akin and could easy mislead the public, infringing upon its long-established individuality and reputation.
Initially, a Federal High Court had dismissed KPMG Nigeria’s lawsuit successful 2005.
The little court’s reasoning was based connected an alleged merger betwixt KPMG Nigeria and Akintola Williams Deloitte, suggesting that the plaintiff could nary longer asseverate rights to the KPMG name.
Furthermore, the Federal High Court had upheld a counterclaim from the 2nd respondent, adjacent going truthful acold arsenic to bid KPMG Nigeria’s sanction to beryllium struck disconnected the register, a determination present decisively overturned.
However, the Court of Appeal scrutinised this reasoning, describing the grounds of a merger arsenic inadequate and unsubstantiated.
Justice Bayero highlighted that paper articles, which were the sole ground for the little court’s conclusion, were insufficient impervious of a ineligible merger.
The appellate tribunal recovered nary grounds to suggest that KPMG Nigeria had ceased to beryllium oregon had relinquished its rights to the name.
“It is lone a merger statement that tin find the quality and scope of the purported merger. What exists present astatine champion is simply a functional collaboration oregon partial merger of lone a component, KPMG Audit and adjacent that is not proven by binding ineligible documents,” Justice Bayero stated successful the judgment.
The appellate tribunal emphasised KPMG Nigeria’s humanities precedence, noting that it was the archetypal to registry its concern entities, including KPMG Audit (1969), KPMG Tax Consultants (1990), and KPMG Consulting.
The station CAC orders steadfast to alteration sanction implicit KPMG trademark clash appeared archetypal connected Vanguard News.
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