Challenges of copyright enforcement in Nigeria

Copyright law seeks to strike a balance between the rights of the creator and the copyright owner, so that they may manage and protect their business and works.

Presently, the growing infringement of copyright laws has made enforcement very necessary, particularly with the advent of the Internet and online media.The Internet has allowed consumers across the globe to access information easily and with fewer boundaries.

The body responsible for enforcement is the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC). It is the machinery for the administration of copyright in Nigeria, which is a creation of the Copyright Act Cap C28. Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

The essence of copyright protection is to create favourable conditions and environment for the actualisation of an author’s potentials through protection of his creative work. Section 34(1) of the Copyright Act, provides for the functions/roles of the Nigerian Copyright Council, which includes to monitor and supervise Nigeria’s position in relation to international conventions and advise government thereon;

To advise and regulate conditions for the conclusion of bilateral and multilateral agreements between Nigeria and any other country; to enlighten and inform the public on matters relating to copyright; to maintain an effective data bank on authors and their works; be responsible for such other matters as related to copyright in Nigeria as the minister may from time to time, direct.

However, the challenges of enforcing copyright infringements hinder optimal performance of the Commission. A lawyer, Akintayo Balogun believes that the NCC is facing a series of challenges in enforcing the laws of copyrights in Nigeria, which had frustrated creative efforts of legitimate business investors.

According to him, some of the challenges include lack of knowledge on privacy by the general public. He argued that many people in Nigeria would prefer to buy cheaper products on the streets and in the traffic, that is easily and readily available than to purchase the original products from the right source, which might not be available on the street and in the traffic.

Buying and selling of pirated products, he said, is unlawful but many Nigerians are not even aware of such laws not to talk of obeying the same. Other challenges, he said, include poor training and lack of adequate understanding of the issues involved by NCC officials, the position and role of law enforcement agencies like the police, army, customs and officers of other relevant government agencies in enforcing copyright laws in Nigeria.

“Interestingly, many of these law enforcement agencies have little to no knowledge of the existing copyright laws. It is difficult to implement what you do not have knowledge of,” he explained.

The lawyer also said poor funding of enforcement activities and lack of apparatus to dictate pirate activities within a specified area and effect arrest promptly, contribute to hobbling the success of enforcement.

“The NCC is not adequately funded. This automatically hinders necessary and comprehensive investigations and reduces the quantum of information gathered and as a result affects the Commission’s optimum performance,” he said. He also noted the menace of corruption. According to him, corruption has been endemic in Nigeria and found its way and influence in virtually every sector. “There seem to be compromises between NCC officials and persons that pirate other people’s work, either to frustrate, refuse to arrest or prosecute indicted pirates,” stated, pointing out that there are undue delays in prosecution of apprehended offenders.

His words: “The legal system in Nigeria has been very docile when it comes to prosecuting cases of piracy. There is hardly any known or popular case of conviction arising from prosecuting a case of piracy. A very strong conviction would have served as deterrence to would-be offenders, but that happens not to be the case.”

For Jerry Aondo, also a lawyer, there are no mechanisms and will power by the government to enforce and protect copyright due to the advantage and exploitation, which the government enjoys as culprit to the same copyright laws it put in place.

“The government is the number one culprit. They infringe on the rights of an individual’s intellectual property. In many seminars and paper presentations, the government used to lift others’ work as seminar papers and worksheets.

“However, section 20 and 30 of the Copyright Act, which provides for criminal liability for copyright is a toothless provision which is inactive. The individual’s intellectual right of protection on scientific, literary and artistic productions has become a sham in Nigeria today. The lawyer insisted that NCC, which has the mandate of protecting copyright in Nigeria, has failed in its responsibility.

“When you suffer and sell an idea to a government agency, they turn around to artfully collect the ideas and implement it as their brainchild without you. The JAMB scratch card was an idea sold by some young men to the agency some years back but they stole it without acknowledging the fellow,” he claimed.

Also, an Abuja-based lawyer, Monday Ikpe identified lack of manpower, especially availability of enforcement personnel as some of the challenges. This, he said, definitely hampers the raid operations, because the officers find it difficult to go alone. This, he said, makes the fight against piracy difficult and consequently the vice flourishes and thrives.

“Other challenges are multilingual states and there are instances where officers are deployed to operate in an area where they do not understand the language of the natives. Consequently, they will not understand each other and the raid operations will be practically impossible because of lack of communication.

“Also, online and computer networks have made the world a global village. The Internet by its very nature has vast information in it and various activities take place on it, including crimes and torts. Copyrighted works uploaded on the Internet are bastardised and copied with impunity,” he said. He, however, said the prevalence of piracy in Nigeria is caused by poverty, high cost of original products, greed, excessive profiting and weak law enforcement.

The consequences of piracy, he stated, are multidimensional, as they impact the economy, social and political foundations of society. The lawyer stressed that the damaging effect of piracy is visible all around the society – the waning zeal for creativity; the dearth of well researched textbooks and reading materials in the education sector; the diminishing nature of the artistic and literary quality of the country’s stage performance and the increasing colourless and uninspiring products in the visual arts.

Ikpe argued that the negative impact makes investors wary, while the younger generation is not encouraged to pursue careers in the arts and entertainment industry for fear of losing intellectual property to theft.

“We are all confronted by an attack on our culture and future as a people,” he quipped.

However, despite the challenges of enforcement, the Director-General of NCC, Dr. John Asein, assured the creative industry that his agency will introduce measures to provide more safe corridors for copyright works in Nigeria. He said different strategies would be used, both online and in physical space, to ensure that pirates stopped selling pirated books.

“For us at the Commission, we are more than committed; by next year, we will be focusing more on enforcement and we are going to do that in all nooks and crannies of Nigeria.

“We are going to use different strategies and work on different platforms – both online and (in) the physical space. This is because we must address this problem head on and that is a commitment from the NCC,” Mr Asien pledged.

Whether he will make good the promise or not remains to be seen. However, the bottom line is that urgent measures need to be put in place to secure intellectual property in Nigeria.