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Copyright Commission decries increasing book piracy

By Lawrence Njoku, Enugu
20 August 2017   |   4:27 am
The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has raised alarm over rising cases of book piracy in the country, saying it has seized about 18 containers of pirated books, worth millions of naira in the last five years.

Books

The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has raised alarm over rising cases of book piracy in the country, saying it has seized about 18 containers of pirated books, worth millions of naira in the last five years.

It also said that several arrests had been made and convictions secured with the two-year jail term without option of fine slammed on a convict recently, for pirating books by the Federal High court, Awka, Anambra State.

NCC’s Zonal Manager, Mrs Ngozi Okeke, who stated this in Enugu, during the anti-piracy sensitisation workshop, organised by the commission in collaboration with Nigeria Publishers Association, Southeast zone, stressed the need for relevant stakeholders to co-operate with the commission and support its programmes, to ensure that right owners and investors benefit maximally from their creative works.

Stressing on the dangers of piracy, she said: “Right owners lose investment in terms of time, money, skill and energy. The economic fabrics of the nation are destroyed, government suffers loss of revenue since the pirates do not pay tax, national image and pride is damaged. On the part of the society, it breeds ground for other heinous crimes and societal ills; it is a crime against foreigners and national alike.”

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