Copyright is a bundle of rights granted to authors and owners of specified works over their creations. Such creations are usually referred to as “works”. Copyright is granted in the form of a limited monopoly over their creations (we’ll explain how that works later on). Copyright Protection is provided for by the Copyrights Act, LFN 2004, and is administered by the Nigerian Copyright Commission.
Copyright contributes to social development by giving creators incentives in the form of recognition and economic rewards. In essence, a creator is assured that his/her works can be exploited and distributed, free from unauthorized copying or piracy. This in turn helps increase access to the works and enhances the enjoyment of culture, technology, knowledge, and entertainment for humanity.
Works protected by copyright include, but are not limited to, literary works such as novels, poems and plays; reference works such as encyclopedias and dictionaries; databases; software and computer programs; newspaper articles; films and TV programs; musical compositions; choreography; artistic works such as paintings, drawings, photographs and sculptures; architectural drawings and plans; and advertisements, maps and technical drawings.
Copyright does not protect mere ideas, but the expression of these ideas. For example, the idea of taking a picture of a sunset is not protected by copyright. Therefore, anyone may take such a picture. But a particular picture of a sunset taken by a photographer may be protected by copyright. In such a case, if someone else makes copies of the photograph, and starts selling them without the consent of the photographer, that person would be violating the photographer’s rights in the photo.
Copyright protection in Nigeria is registration-free. This means that an eligible work automatically enjoys protection without the need for any form of registration or other formality. A work enjoys protection by copyright as soon as it is created provided that it is sufficiently original and is fixed in a definite medium for example, a book, cd, tape, etc.
The Nigerian Copyright Commission currently provides for the optional registration and deposit of works Copyright Notification Certificate to facilitate financing transactions, sales, assignments and transfers of rights, questions involving disputes over ownership or creation.
The rights conferred by Copyright can be broadly classified into:
(a) Economic rights, which allow the owner to derive financial reward from the use and exploitation of the work. An author may authorize or prohibit the reproduction in various forms, distribution, public performance, broadcasting and communication to the public, translation into other languages; adaptation.
Economic rights ensure that creators derive some financial gain from the creation and exploitation of copyright-protected works. In certain instances, creators spend money and other resources in the process of creating the work and/or getting the work across to the final consumer. For example, Book publishing, sound recording or film producing are usually undertaken by specialized business organizations or companies, and not directly by the authors.
Many authors do not have the ability or the means to manage their rights themselves. They often resort to collective management organizations or societies which provide for their members, the benefits of the organization’s administrative and legal expertise and efficiency in collecting, managing and disbursing royalties. These royalties are obtained from the national and international use of a member’s work on a large scale, by, for example, broadcasting organizations, discotheques, restaurants, libraries, universities and schools.
(b) Moral rights highlight the personal link between the author and the work. This includes the right to be recognized as the author and/or creator of the work (right of Attribution), the right to object to the work being modified, or being used in contexts that may cause harm to the reputation or honor of the author. Copyright protection does not last forever. The different classes of works have different life spans set out in the Copyright Act. Once the term of protection for a work has expired, the work is said to become part of the “public domain”.
About Us
The Intellectual Property Institute Nigeria (Ltd/Gte) is dedicated to increasing the awareness and understanding of intellectual property in Nigeria. The Institute engages in a wide range of activities including research, public enlightenment, specialized training and workshops, technical assistance, institution building and consultative services.
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