New Horizons of Rights in a Digital Copyright Environment

New Horizons of Rights in a Digital Copyright Environment

Since the enactment of the now repealed Copyright Act Cap C28 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria in 1988 (“1988 Copyright Act”), the Nigerian creative industry has since witnessed considerable technological and financial development, which compelled the evolution of trade practices to conform with the technological and economic realities of the industry. This resulted in several copyright infringement disputes as stakeholders became more aware of their rights and resisted any infringement. For example, in July 2022, Nigerian record producer, Tempoe sued award-winning Nigerian artiste Asa, and producer, P. Prime, for infringing his copyright, forcing Asa to remove some songs from her ‘V’ album. In October of the same year, Asa also alleged that Nigerian artiste, JoeBoy, infringed her copyright over a composition produced by Tempoe. Furthermore, the growth of the Nigerian creative and entertainment industry has developed into a $4,500,000,000 (Four Billion, Five Hundred Million United States Dollars) Industry such that in a report by global streaming giant Netflix, Netflix has invested $23,600,000 (Twenty-Three Million, Six Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) in Nigeria.

In view of the rapid development and dynamism associated with the creative industry, President Muhammadu Buhari, on 17 March 2023, passed the Copyright Act 2022 (the “Act” or “Copyright Act”) into law, which repealed the 1988 Copyright Act and aligns Nigerian copyright regime with the technological and economic realities of the 21^st century. In the DOA Copyright Series, we shall examine the innovative provisions of the Copyright Act and how the legislation modernizes the Nigerian copyright regime.  

Click “read more” below to read the full journal and view which works are protected under the Copyright Act.

Read more>>