ABSTRACT
The Entertainment Industry would be a shadow of itself without the existence of Copyright and Licensing laws. The need for regulation of this industry is thus quintessential and has been legislated upon but the advent of Electronic Media most especially its magnum opus, The Internet has brought with it drastic changes to the industry which begs the question, is the current framework still capable of the administration of Copyright in this new era, to elicit an answer to this query was the core factor that necessitated this dissertation. This study in a bid to answer the aforementioned query appraised the history of laws regulating Copyright, the current laws and the protections available to works in general and those that are digital in nature and it was discovered that the current laws don’t acknowledge expressly the existence of Copyright for digital works. During the course of this thesis the performance of regulatory bodies was also called into question and it was discovered that the NCC is performing well considering extenuating factors while the Collecting Societies are doing a poor job worthy of stern criticism. In conducting this thesis the methodology used was qualitative in nature as such recourse was made to primary and secondary sources as well as real life scenarios. The findings reveal that the Nigerian Copyright Law is incapable of properly regulating works digital in nature so much so that their opinion on their existence is ambiguous, there is a pressing need for the change of statutes with a focus towards offering Digital works adequate Copyright protection. It was concluded that the current statutes are hampering the growth of the entertainment industry as they don’t limit resolve contemporary problems such Online Copyright Piracy, failure to collect royalties etc. also have a negative impact on the Nigerian Entertainment Industry as such there is a need for implementation of some the recommended changes specified in the work.
KEYWORDS: Electronic Media, Internet, Copyright and Licensing, Entertainment Industry
TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL INTRODUCTION.. 11
1.1. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM.. 12
1.3. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY. 13
1.4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY.. 13
1.5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.. 14
1.6. SCOPE & LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY.. 14
1.8. DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS. 15
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW… 18
2.1.0. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COPYRIGHT IN NIGERIA.. 19
2.1.1. THE COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1911. 19
2.1.2 THE COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1970. 20
2.1.3. THE COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1988. 21
2.1.4 THE AMENDMENT OF 1992 AND 1999. 21
2.1.5 HISTORY OF ELECTRONIC MEDIA IN NIGERIA.. 22
CHAPTER THREE: ELECTRONIC MEDIA AND COPYRIGHT IN THE MUSIC & MOVIE INDUSTRY.. 29
3.1. THE NATURE OF COPYRIGHT. 30
3.1.1. RATIONALE FOR COPYRIGHT PROTECTION.. 31
3.1.2. WORKS THAT CAN BE COPYRIGHTED.. 32
3.1.3 WORKS THAT ARE NOT COPYRIGHTABLE. 34
3.1.4 WHO CAN OWN COPYRIGHT. 36
3.1.5. RIGHTS VESTED IN A COPYRIGHT OWNER.. 36
3.1.6. INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT. 37
3.2. COPYRIGHT IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY.. 40
3.2.1. STAKEHOLDERS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY.. 40
3.2.2. PERFORMERS RIGHTS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY.. 41
3.2.3. COPYRIGHT REGULATION IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY.. 41
3.3. COPYRIGHT IN THE MOVIE INDUSTRY.. 42
3.3.1. STAKEHOLDERS IN THE MOVIE INDUSTRY.. 42
3.3.2. PERFORMERS RIGHTS IN THE MOVIE INDUSTRY.. 43
3.3.4. COPYRIGHT REGULATION IN THE NIGERIAN MOVIE INDUSTRY.. 43
3.4.0 THE NIGERIAN COPYRIGHT COMMISSION AND COLLECTING SOCIETIES. 44
3.4.2. DUTIES OF THE NIGERIAN COPYRIGHT COMMISSION.. 44
3.4.3. APPRAISAL OF THE NIGERIAN COPYRIGHT COMMISSIONS DISCHARGE OF ITS DUTIES. 45
3.4.4 THE GRANT OF LICENSES. 49
3.4.5. COLLECTING SOCIETIES. 50
3.4.6. MUSICAL COPYRIGHT SOCIETIES (MCSN) 50
3.4.7. PERFORMANCE RIGHT SOCIETIES (PRS) 51
3.4.8. COPYRIGHT SOCIETY OF NIGERIA (COSON) 51
3.4.9. ESTABLISHMENT OF NO MUSIC DAY.. 52
3.5.0 THE ROLE OF ELECTRONIC MEDIA IN COPYRIGHT PROTECTION.. 52
3.5.2. BENEFITS OF CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE. 53
3.5.4. SITE ADDRESS BLOCKING: 54
3.5.6. ELECTRONIC MEDIA REGULATION IN RELATION TO COPYRIGHT. 55
3.5.7. EFFECTS OF ELECTRONIC MEDIA IN COPYRIGHT PROTECTION.. 56
3.5.8. DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT. 57
3.6. BENEFITS OF ELECTRONIC MEDIA TO THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY.. 57
3.7 CHALLENGES OF NEW ELECTRONIC MEDIA.. 59
3.8. PERMITTED ACTS AND DEFENCES. 61
3.8.2. EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. 62
3.8.3 USE FOR PUBLIC INTEREST BY GOVERNMENT, PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND INSTITUTIONS FOR THE DISABLED.. 62
3.8.4 PARODY, PARTIES, OR CARICATURE. 62
3.8.5. REPRODUCTION OF ARTISTIC WORKS AND THEIR INCLUSION IN FILM OR BROADCAST. 62
CHAPTER FOUR: INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK REGULATING ELECTRONIC MEDIA COPYRIGHT AND LICENSING.. 63
4.2. WIPO COPYRIGHT TREATY 1996. 65
4.3. WIPO PERFORMANCES AND PHONOGRAM TREATY 1996. 66
4.4. DIGITAL ECONOMY ACT 2010. 69
4.5. DIGITAL MILLENIUM COPYRIGHT ACT 1998. 70
TABLE OF CASES
Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service
Yeni Anikulapo Kuti & Ors v T.M. Iseli Ors (2003) 5 L.P.R.
Oladipo Yemitan v The Daily Times of Nigeria (1980) F.H.C.R. 186 at 190
American Motion Pictures Export Co (Nig) Ltd v Minnesota Nigeria Ltd (1977) 2 I.P.L.R. 169.
Yewens v. Noakes, (1880) 6 Q.B.D 538
Dodsley v. Kinnersley (1972). Q.B 284
Peter Pan v Corsets Silhouette (1963) All E.R. 402
Sayre v Moore 347 US 201,219 (1954).
Green v Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (1989) 2 All ELR 1056
TABLE OF STATUTES
Copyright Act 1911
Copyright Act 1970
Copyright Act 1988
Copyright Act 1992
Copyright Act 1999
WIPO Copyright Treaty 1996
WIPO Performances And Phonogram Treaty 1996
Digital Economy Act 2010
Digital Millenium Copyright Act 1998
CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.0. BACKGROUND OF STUDY
This thesis will begin with a quote from the National Economic Council Chairman Mr Ayeni Adekunle who in his speech on “Restructuring the Entertainment Industry as the Last Hope” said “We need to start looking at the non-oil sector, if the oil sector is failing us”. There is no greater acknowledgement of the golden goose that is the Entertainment Sector than the chairman of the National Economic Council’s statement[1] but that might not provide enough conviction for many as such let’s consider the statistics.
The Nigerian Film Industry is globally recognized as the second largest film producer in the world, The Cinema revenue for 2021 is projected to be as high as US$22million while the Total Music revenue for 2021 is estimated to be as high as US$73 million, the TV and Video market revenue was at US$732 million as far back as 2018. The music and movie industry jointly account for 1.4% of the country’s GDP according to IMF reports.[2]
I believe that these figures will allow even the biggest skeptics acknowledge this goose because we all want its golden eggs which range from employment opportunities to GDP growth and for these reasons it is sacrosanct that the golden goose be kept in perfect condition. How does one to get the best out of this “golden goose” becomes the million dollar question? The answer lies in Copyright and Licensing.
One of the core factors behind the exponential growth of the Entertainment industry is due to advancements in the field of Electronic Media, but this creates a slight conundrum as to how well equipped or otherwise the existing copyright and licensing systems are to deal with this novel combination. The widespread use of Online platforms like Netflix for legal viewing of Movies, the legal enjoyment of music on Apple music , Spotify and other similar streaming platforms are evidence of the intertwining paths of electronic media and the entertainment industry this means that now is the time to appraise and optimize the existing system.
It goes without saying that the profits from the Entertainment Industry are quite literally contingent on how well the Copyright and Licensing systems are performing in their duties of regulating and protecting artists and their works as such there can be no understating the importance of evaluating the current copyright system (The Nigerian Copyright System comprises the Copyright and Licensing laws, the Collecting Societies and the Copyright Commission itself) and making recommendations where necessary so we can maximize the potential of this multi-billion dollar industry and these circumstances necessitated the commencement of this research thesis.
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