NCC, Stakeholders Agree on Copyright Law Enforcement

The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), in a bid to address the issue of piracy in the creative industry recently organized a one-day workshop for the chief executive officers and operating managers of optical disc plants in Nigeria; and other stakeholders in the creative industry.
The workshop provided a platform for engagement between the Commission, optical disc plants operators, copyright owners and other stakeholders in the copyright industry; to fashion out a new course in the collective efforts at improving the implementation of the Copyright Optical Discs Plants Regulation, reduce piracy in the creative industry, in addition to initiating industry best practices.
In his welcome address, Adewopo Adebambo, DG of NCC, acknowledged that the effect of piracy on right owners in Nigeria is tremendous, while observing that the emergence of digital technology and the popularity of optical disc have created new challenges as regards piracy control.
“The regulation of optical disc manufacturing plants has facilitated the identification of genuine plants for periodic inspection to ensure that illegal reproductions are not carried out. It has also enabled the Commission to enforce the statutory duty requiring these plants to keep records of their productions based on the powers vested in the commission under section 45(4) of the Copyright Act,” he stated.
The NCC boss informed that after a general inspection of all the plants in December, the Commission observed that while many plants were in some degree of compliance with the provisions of the law, a gross weakness was prevalent in the area of post-registration obligations.
He said the team observed inconsistencies in plants’ record keeping, in addition to most of them defaulting on import approvals either for production parts or raw materials; and only a few observing required rights clearance procedures.
Adebambo said these slips stem from the plant officials’ lack of understanding of the full regulatory obligations, and the reluctance of some plants to discard old practices, while noting that the workshop was planned as a platform for the enthronement of sound copyright practices that will remedy the situation.
“Beyond the need to provide information, we are also looking forward to using this platform to encourage the adoption of uniform standards of operations.”
Cyprian Orakpo, chairman of Optical Disc Replicators Association of Nigeria (Odran), reiterated the association’s support for the NCC’s efforts geared towards ridding the country of piracy as pronounced in the Strategic Action against Piracy (Strap). “We have had several meetings with the Commission and other stakeholders of the copyright community towards this end and we hope that in no distant time, all our efforts will yield the much anticipated result.”
Orakpo observed that for the country’s optical disc plants to survive, concerted efforts must be made to curb the activities of pirates. “The truth of the matter is that if nothing is done about piracy, many optical disc plants may close shop this year. In fact, at the current cost of optical disc, there is no plant owner that can replace his obsolete machinery with new equipment. Piracy must be fought from both the supply and demand ends. The supply end includes the importers, duplicators, replicating plants and label printers, while the demand end comprises the distributors, marketers, agents and users.”
Participants observed that the effect of intellectual property infringement and the non-observance of the provisions of relevant laws and regulations in the management of optical discs are detrimental to the copyright owners, the industry and the nation’s economy.
It was unanimously agreed that a well regulated environment for the reproduction of creative works would ensure that only genuine products are injected into the channels of trade and commerce; and as guardians of valuable data, optical disc plants should aid the protection of creative works and guarantee due compensation for creative efforts.
Participants unanimously agreed that unlicensed optical disc plants, illegal duplicators, printers and publishers of music, should be identified and made to face the course of justice. It was also recommended that genuine right owners be encouraged to notify the NCC of their rights, through its website in order to assist legal optical disc plants in verifying copyright ownership.
The workshop also charged the regulatory agency to compel optical disc and mastering plants to inscribe identifiable codes in their production facilities in order to assist in the investigation of illegal reproduction of optical discs, while effective mass enlightenment programmes be instituted to sensitize the public.