An examination of the adequacy of the regulation of collecting societies in Nigeria

• Author: Olubiyi, I.A.
• Pages: 89-114
• Date: 24 May 2019
• Citation: (2017) IPLJ 89
• Published date: 24 May 2019

AN EXAMINATION OF THE

ADEQUACY OF THE REGULATION

OF COLLECTING SOCIETIES IN

NIGERIA



Lecturer, Faculty of L aw, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti

Doctoral Candida te, Faculty of Law, University of Ilori n



Dean, Faculty of L aw, University of Ilorin

Reader, Departm ent of Business Law, University of Ilor in

  

Collecting societies are as sociations of copyright or neighbouri ng right

owners (right owners), whether natural or legal p ersons, established by free

association with the mai n aim of negotiating and granti ng licences as well

           

They were necessitated by the f ree exploitation or use of copyright works,

without any form of remuneration or comp ensation for the copyright owners.1

Collecting societies are usu ally regulated by law and other govern ment policies

because they are entr usted with the admin istration of copyright.2 The need for

regulation also ari ses from the fact that the act ivities of collecting societies

impact on the entire so ciety, since society constitutes the use rs of copyright

and neighbouring r ight works. While jurisdict ions exercise differing levels

of regulation on the activities of collect ing societies, the stringency of the

control depends on the legislation, policies a nd social, political and economic

undertones as well as t he experiences of the copyright or neighbou ring right

industry of each ju risdiction.

Most of the judicial decisions that have emanated on t he collective

administ ration of copyright in Nigeria have focused on the iss ue of the

regulation of the activities of collect ing societies by the Nigerian Copyright

Commission (NCC), part icularly in its exercise of its discretionar y powers

     

  

       Collecti ve management of

copyright an d related rights 2 ed (2006) 155.

2 Section 39 of the Copy right Act 1988 Cap C28, Laws of Federat ion of Nigeria 2004; Gerva is (n1)

xx.

89

(2017) IPLJ 89

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to approve collecting societies.3 There is t herefore a need to consider the

adequacy or excessiveness of the regulat ion of collecting societies in Nigeria.

It is pertinent to i nquire into whether the regu latory regime in Nigeria is

 

copyright or whether it goes overboard by cu rtailing the freedom of collect ing

      

of copyright and the legal basis for the oper ation of collecting societies.

Section three disc usses the functions pe rformed by collecting societies,

    

    

of collecting societies in Nigeria. Sect ion six contains our conclusion and

recommendations.

  

     

     4 The term



  5 Prop erty therefore refers to any thing over which one may exercise

control to the exclusion of others. It can be tangible (things that ca n be sensed

  

as land, cars or houses , or intangible (in which case it is abstract a nd cannot

             

goodwill and other choses i n action. Although copyright is i ntangible, it has

been clothed with the gar ment or status of a property right by law.

Copyright is considered to be t he exclusive right granted by law to the

author of a work to disclose it as his or hers, to reproduc e it, to distribute or

disseminate it to t he public in any manner and by any means, and to author ise

others to use it in cer tain ways.6 By this, it protects the author i n his or her

intellectual and p ersonal relationship to the work and the use of the work, and

it serves to secure rea sonable remuneration for the use of the work.7 The latter

is achieved by conferri ng economic rights on authors and compan ies that

control the means of dissemi nating copyright works in orde r to enable them

to obtain remunerat ion from the use or exploitation of these works.8 Moral or

personal rights a re also conferred on authors of copyr ight works, which give

the author the right to be at tributed as such in respe ct of the work and the

3 MCSN v Adeokin Rec ords (unrepor ted suit no FHC/L/CS/216/96); MCSN v Ade okin Records

[2007] 13 NWLR (P t 1052) 616; MCSN v CBS Ltd (unrepor ted appeal no CA/ L/576/2014); MCSN

v COSON & anor (unr eported suit no F HC/L/CS/377/2013); MCSN v Details Nig Ltd (un repo rted

suit no FHC/L/CS/434/95); MCS N v Details Nig Ltd (unrepor ted suit no CA/L/506/1999).

4 B Atkinson and B Fit zgerald A short histor y of copyright: The ge nie of informatio n (2014) 3 .

5 Online etymology dictionary, available at www.etymonline.com/index,php?ter m=property

(accessed on 6 Augu st 2017).

6 WIPO WIPO glossar y of terms of the law of copy right and neighbouring r ights (1980), cited by

J O Asein Nigeria n copyright law & pract ice 2 ed (2012) 3.

7 L T C Harms, The e nforcement of intel lectual propert y rights: A case book 3 ed (2012) 166.

8 Sections 6– 9 of the Copyright Act 1988.

90 South African Intellectual Property Law Journal (2017) 5

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