Authorship, Ownership and Enforcement of Copyright: The Nigerian Situation

• Date: 24 May 2019
• Published date: 24 May 2019
• Author: Desmond O Oriakhogba
• Pages: 40-54

AUTHORSHIP, OWNERSHIP AND

ENFORCEMENT OF COPYRIGHT:

THE NIGERIAN SITUATION

 

Lecturer, Faculty of L aw, University of Benin

  

Historical antecede nts show that the desire to protect copyright was not bor ne

out of the need to fur ther the interests of copyright owners, but out of the nee d

to prevent sedition and blasphemy thr ough the pen and t o secure the interests

of businessmen in the creative indu stry.1 However, as will be seen from the

provisions of the law to be considered in the course of this paper, this area of

the law now has the protection of these owner s as its central focus.

The links t hat copyright have with economic development fur ther buttresses

the need for protection of copyright.2 E ssentially, copyright ensures a n evolving

culture of creativit y, while returning value to creators so that they can lead

           

public access to content throug h the granting of licenses by copyright owner s

to members of the public for the use of copyrighted works.3 As such, the

     

gross domestic product (GDP) of national economies.4 This indu stry has been

judged as being capable of accounting for bet ween 3 to 7 per cent of the total

GDP of some countries.5 Thus, the need for a strong copyright system t hat

guarantee s the sustenance of creativ ity and reward for creators by affording

  

1 K Fogel ‘The surpr ising histor y of copyright and t he promise of a post-c opyright world’, available

at http://questionco pyright.org /promise (viewed on 2 Ju ne, 2014); W Cornish & D Llewelyn

Intellectual P roperty: Paten ts, Copyright , Trademarks and Alli ed Rights (2007) 375; DL

Zimmerm an ‘It’s an original!(?): In pursuit of copy right’s elusive essence’ (2005) 28 Columbia

Journal of Law a nd Arts 187; J Ginsburg ‘”Une Chose P ublique”? The Author’s Domain a nd the

Public Domain i n Early British, French a nd US Copyright Law’ (Public L aw and Legal Theory

Working Paper, No. 06-120, 2006 ) 1-4; B Kaplan An Unhurrie d View of Copyright (196 7) 4–5 .

2 A Adewopo Nigerian Copyright System: Principles and Perspectives (2012) xxxi; A Adewopo

According to Intel lectual Prope rty: A Pro-De velopment Vision of The Law and T he Nigerian

Intellectual P roperty La w and Policy Reform i n The Knowledge Er a (2012) 2; M Ouma ‘The

role of copyright i n economic developme nt: A review from Ke nya’ (2012) NIALS Journal of

Intellectual P roperty 65.

3 A Adewopo, ‘Copyrigh t and the entert ainment ind ustries in Niger ia: An apprais al of the evolving

legal issues’ in E Az inge & D Adekunle (eds) Admin istration of Just ice and Good Gove rnance in

Nigeria (2011) 201 –250.

4 The copyrig ht-based indu stry encom passes the busi ness of music, book s, movies, televis ion,

telecommun ication, computer, ra dio, internet, v ideo games, theat re, fashion, art, s ports, etc. See

Adewopo (n3) 202–204.

5 Ibid.

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(2015) IPLJ 40

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