We’ll block cloned brands — SON

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has read the riot act to promoters of cloned brands in a bid to check fake and substandard goods in the country.

The Director General of SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, explained that the agency would discourage the registration of any product that had a similar business name with an existing brand or those hidden under the names of successful brands to short-change consumers.

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Mallam Salim made this known during a courtesy visit by the Alaba International Market Association (AIMA) to the SON office in Lagos.

“The issue of cloning brands cannot be handled by SON alone, but going forward, we are going to audit the products we register and certify.

“Anytime a new product comes and looks similar to another registered product that is already popular in the market, we will try to discourage the registration of that product with such a name so that other products would be identified properly,” he said.