Corporate governance of collecting societies in Nigeria: Powers of the copyright sector regulator

• Date: 24 May 2019
• Published date: 24 May 2019
• Citation: (2018) IPLJ 24
• Author: Okorie, C.I.
• Pages: 24-46

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

OF COLLECTING SOCIETIES

IN NIGERIA: POWERS OF THE

COPYRIGHT SECTOR REGULATOR



Lead Consultant , Penguide Advisory

 

In 2007, the Nigerian Copyright Comm ission (NCC), pursuant to its

powers under s 39 of the Copyright Act,1 issued the Copyr ight (Collective

       

repealed the Copyr ight (Collecting Societies) Regulation 1993 (1993

Regulations).2 In repealing the 1993 Regulations, t he NCC expanded its

powers to regulate collective ad ministration of copyr ight in Nigeria by inter

alia making exten sive provisions3 relating to the intern al mechanisms or

corporate governa nce of collecting societies.4 These corp orate governance-

related provisions discussed later i n this paper, marked a turning point i n the

regulation of collective management of copyr ight in Nigeria.5

The collecting societies reg ulated by the NCC have ‘dual personality’ and are

subject to a dual regulator y framework: they are companies registered unde r

6 and they are also collecting

        

are legal entities with all the r ights of natural per sons including the right to

sue and be sued7 and their af fairs are governed and managed by their di rectors

       8 As collecting

societies, part of the requ irements for the issuance of licences to operate thei r

core business of negotiation of licences and collection a nd distribution of

  

1 Cap C28, Laws of Federat ion of Nigeria 2004.

      Evolut ion and future t rends of copyr ight in

Nigeria (2015) 119 -120.

3 See O Ola Copyright Collective Adm inistration i n Nigeria: Lessons fo r Africa (2013) 23-25;

                  

societies in Nige ria’ (2017) 5 IPLJ 93.

4 The ter ms ‘collecting socie ty’ and ‘collective man agement organis ation’ are used in the l iterature

and in differ ent statutes to refe r the same entity. Thi s paper prefers and use s the term, ‘collect ing

so ci e t y’.

5 Ola (n3) 51.

   

 

 

24

(2018) IPLJ 24

© Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd

royalties,9 include complia nce with the directives of the reg ulatory authorit y



to princi ples of good governa nce.10 The legal features and unde rpinnings of

this ‘dual persona’, although somewhat similar, are distinct e nough to warrant

separate analyses. Accord ingly, it is proposed to address the implication s of



While there is some lite rature on the regu lation of collecting societies

in Nigeria, most have focused on the NCC’s regulation of the activities of

collecting societies, par ticularly in its exercise of its discret ionary powers

to approve collecting societies11 and others on t he effectiveness of the NCC

  

copyright i n Nigeria.12 Little or no attention has been paid to quest ions relating

      

in the regulation of the cor porate governance of collecting societ ies.13

Therefore, in this ar ticle, the overall thrus t or concern is the effectiveness of

   

the effectiveness of those powers in add ressing the problems or incidences of

poor corporate govern ance of collecting societies in Niger ia.

            

address, the problem of poor cor porate governance of collecting societies and

the requirements ai med at minimisi ng or addressing them impo se ‘second-

generation’ requirements on collect ing societies in Nigeria. Indee d, the position

         

counterpar ts where there is either a Code of Conduct that applies to collect ing



 14

                    

 

Report 2011’, available at https://www.gov.za/documents/copyright-review-commission-

       

     

(2017) 7 JIPITEC 256; Y Jiang ‘Changing tides of collect ive licensing in China’ (2013) 21 Mich

St U Coll L Int’l L Rev 729.

10  

11 See JO Odion and DO O riakhogba ‘Copyrig ht collective management o rganizations in Nige ria:

resolving the lo cus standi conu ndrum’ (2015) 10(7) Journal of In tellectual Prop erty Law &

Practice           

Towards an Effective Lega l Framework for Regulat ion of Collecting So cieties’, available at

  

12 See Ola 2013 (n3).

13 See Nzomo (n11) at 77.

14         

prsformusic.com/-/media/files/prs-for-music/corporate/governance/code-of-conduct/prs-for-

music-code -of-conduct.pdf > (viewed 20 August 2 018), British Copyright Coun cil ‘Principles

            

britishcopyright.org/files/2614/1312/8143/BCCPGP_Policy_Framework_250512.pdf (viewed

20 August 2018).

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE OF COLLECTING SOCIETIES IN NIGERIA:

POWERS OF THE COPYRIGHT SECTOR REGULATOR 25

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