Omoyele Sowore, in a video from 10:01 posted on his official YouTube account, spoke on the legal controversy surrounding the use of the name “Ratel” amid the ongoing dispute involving Linus Williams Ifejirika, popularly known as Blord, and social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, also known as VeryDarkMan.
He stated that the matter has raised questions about intellectual property rights and the limits of trademark protection in Nigeria.
He argued that the case, which involves allegations of impersonation, forgery, and unauthorized use of identity, has also brought attention to claims by Blord that he had trademarked the name “Ratel.” He added that such claims require proper legal scrutiny, especially in light of existing trademark laws and principles governing what can and cannot be exclusively owned.
According to him, “I’ve seen arguments that, oh, what about Apple? It’s trademarked. It is Apple that somebody has beaten that is trademarked. The apple itself is not trademarked because you cannot trademark it. That’s why the people who trademarked Apple had to bite it before they trademarked it because Apple as a fruit cannot be trademarked. You understand? You can’t trademark an animal called Ratel. It doesn’t exist in the trademark registry. And if anybody trademarks it, it cannot be as it is. It has to be that maybe you bite the ear of the ratel off.” Read_More…