By  Linda Iheanacho

Copyright is the right to make copies of a given work. It can also be defined as a sole legal right, held for a certain number of years, by the author or composer of a work or by someone he delegated to print, publish, sell, broadcast, perform, film or record his work or any part of it.

In a country like Nigeria where piracy has become a current occurrence followed with loss of income that trail the authors, publishers, film makers, musicians etc it has become imperative to look into the various acts that constitute infringements in Nigeria to enable us deal with copyright problems, so one can also say that copyright serves to protect, the one that has done work so he can possess the fruits of his work. For one to talk about copyright infringement there must be a claim to copyright and for any claim of copyright of works eligible for it as provided in S.1 (1a – f) of the copyright Act Cop c 28 laws of the federation of Nigeria 2004. There are literary, artistic works, cinematograph films, sound recordings and. broadcasts. There are same works however that cannot lay claim to copyright e.g. S.1 (3) of the act provides that artistic work is not eligible for copyright if at the time the work was made by the author it was intended to be used as a model of pattern to be multiplied by any industrial process, others include slogan symbols, ideas, works for recording information like cheque address books and the information common to all e.g. calendars.

Those entitled to claim copyright include: persons who are Nigeria citizen or domiciled in Nigeria, person whose works are first published in Nigeria or where it is a sound recording made in Nigeria, persons who are commissioned to make a work in the course of their employment, and persons who are commissioned to make a work. We also have Persons to whom the copyright has been transferred either by assignment, by testamentary disposition or by operation of law and this is where the museum fits into, persons to whom license of the work has been granted; where the Federal Government or State Government has commissioned someone to make a work, companies which are registered under Nigeria laws and which produce works of copyright, non Nigerians who are also not domiciled in Nigeria but who are citizens of or domiciled in a country that is a party to an obligation or  treaty or other international agreement to  which Nigeria is a party, including companies registered in those countries, such persons/companies can claim copyright over their works provided the work is first published.

When is copyright deemed infringed and how can the museum be free of copyright infringement? S.1 5(4) provides for this, copyright is deemed infringed when a person without license or authorization of the owner of copyright does any of the following acts: Causes any other person to do an act, the doing of which is controlled by copyright, Imports into Nigeria, unless for his private/domestic use, any article in respect of which copyright is infringed, exhibits in public any article in respect of which copyright is infringed, distributes by way of trade, offers for sale, hire or otherwise for any purpose prejudicial to the owner of the copyright, any article in respect of which copyright is infringed, makes or has in his possession, plates, master tapes, machine equipment or contrivances used for the purposes of making infringed copies of the work, permits a place of public entertainment or a business to be used for a performance in the public of the work where the performance constitutes an infringement of the copyright in the work, unless the person permitting the place to be used was not aware and had no reasonable grounds for suspecting, the performance would be infringement of the copyright, and performs or causes to be performed for the purposes of trade or business or supporting facility to trade or business any work in which copyright subsists.

Despite the numerous ways enumerated above by which copyright can be infringed, the museum can avoid these pitfalls if the following action can be taken or put in place: confirm status of works in their stores/galleries to ascertain that they are under public domain, by making sure object sold to them by agents are brought in by Families/Communities etc. have their copyright transferred either by assignment, testamentary disposition or operation of law, and demand for grant of license and authorization of the work.

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The commission can equally make more effort to educate the people by liaising with the National Universities and State University by making agreement with visitors or researchers in need of certain artifacts in the museum for their work to pay certain royalties to the museum which in turn would be paid to the owners of work, and prosecution of person found to have infringed copyright of objects in which the museum has copyright to in other to get remedies.

There are also the challenges. Presently the challenges include that of neglect since it involves financial means to persecute actions, also ignorance of the benefits of copyright law and how to get remedies when infringed. Though the copyright commissions are doing their best, private individuals and the commission like ours can do same after all it’s their own right that is being infringed upon.

Regrettably copyright inspectors are not assigned to carry out monitoring in Museums and even areas where they do, they don’t seem to carry out monitoring of photocopying centers, raid against film, books and music pirated, especially computer software pirates as often as would make much impactful change.

Presently, the country still suffers from years of neglect in protection of owner’s right and investors partly because for many years it was more of a social outcast not to talk about the unawareness of the magnitude of the monetary benefits that can be reaped from such work.  However, due to emerging economy, competition and the growth of the economy in recent times, corresponding amendment of all investment related laws to position the country to meet the challenges that will arise in the nearest future is ongoing.

Barr. Iheanacho is the Assistant Director Legal, National Museum Lagos