Coson Slams N3Bn Suit Against Hilton for IP Infringement

Transcorp Hilton Abuja, one of Nigeria’s biggest hotels, has been dragged to court by Copyright Society of Nigeria (Coson), for allegedly infringing the intellectual property rights of its members.

 
Coson, the nation’s sole government approved collective management organization for musical works and sound recordings in a copyright infringement action filed by the Abuja based law firm of Ifeanyi Opara & Co, is also suing the American company, Hilton International Manage LLC, which manages hundreds of hotels in several countries across the globe.

 
In Suit No FHC/ABJ/C5/503/2012 supported by a 34 paragraph Statement of Claim and over 40 exhibits, filed at the Federal High Court Abuja on August 13, 2012, Coson pleaded that the second defendant (Hilton) which manages hotels in many countries around the world knows and ought to know that it is blatantly unlawful to infringe the intellectual property rights of creative people anywhere in the world but the second defendant has done nothing to end the brazen abuse of the intellectual property rights of owners of copyright in musical works and sound recordings in the huge facility managed by it in Nigeria and has rather continued to enjoy the profit emanating from such abuse.

 
Coson went on to plead that the behaviour of the defendants in the suit which is unacceptable practice in any of the many countries around the world where Hilton manages hotels has led to massive loss of jobs to the nation.


The body also claimed that Hilton’s actions has led to significant loss of revenue to the country and heavy capital flight from Nigeria as most of the world’s best known international music companies such as EMI, Sony Music, Polygram, etc have divested from Nigeria while the  domestic investors are leaving the industry in droves because of the intolerable amount of copyright infringement encouraged by the likes of the defendants.
 

Coson in the suit has asked the court for the award of more thanN3 billion against the defendants in unpaid royalties, interest on the unpaid royalties, general, exemplary and aggravated damages for the unauthorized copying, communication to the public, permission to perform and infringement of the copyright in the musical works and sound recordings belonging to its members, affiliates and assignors.


The collective management organization has also asked the court for a perpetual injunction restraining the Defendants, their agents, privies or servants from the unauthorized copying, communication to the public, permission to perform and infringement of the copyright in the musical works and sound recordings belonging to its members, affiliates and assignors.

 
Reacting to the development, Chief Tony Okoroji, Coson chairman said: “It is certainly a new day for the creative industry in Nigeria. Those who have followed this process will vouch that we have been very patient with the hotel industry in Nigeria. We have not been rash”


“We have pleaded with them, appealed and sought compromise on every front. Unfortunately, their leaders believe that they are too smart and have treated us with contempt and disdain and have played a game of chicken with us. They have behaved as if Nigeria is a nation without laws and all music found in Nigeria is theirs to profit from as they wish. Let it be clear that we are not backing down. Push has come to shove and the hotel industry is directly responsible for whatever tools we have now deployed from our tool box. Other tools are there and will come into play if they become necessary.” He also stated.