ABSTRACT
In a Country such as Nigeria, the importance of the laws regulating Copyright cannot be overemphasized. The protection of Copyright is backed by legal safeguards aimed at preventing the infringement of the rights of the copyright owner, and in the event of an infringement, ensuring that remedial and punitive measures are put in place so as to deter such infringements from reoccurring, but in Nigeria today, criminal infringement of Copyright works has become the norm. Copyright is facing a legion of problems in Nigeria such as the increase in criminal infringement through piracy and counterfeiting of Copyright works and these problems are causing losses of income to authors, actors, publishers, film makers, musicians, many other copyright owners and the Nation at large.
The aim of this study is to closely examine the legal framework of criminal infringement of Copyright works specifically with a view to determining their efficacy in the fight against criminal infringement of Copyrights in Nigeria; critically analyze the provisions of the Nigerian Copyright Act, and the penalties/sanctions prescribed by the Act for the criminal infringement of Copyright works in Nigeria; examine the role of the Nigerian Copyright Commission in the prevention of criminal infringement of Copyright works in Nigeria; highlight some of the challenges faced in curbing the criminal infringement of Copyright works in Nigeria; and also to proffer useful suggestions for the improvement of the existing measures to curb criminal infringement of copyrights in Nigeria. The method of research adopted in this work is doctrinal and analytical though the use of primary and secondary sources with respect to Copyright works and the legal framework on criminal infringement in Nigeria.
This study finds that the existing laws in Nigeria for the prohibition of criminal infringement of Copyrights are inadequate; the penalties and sanctions provided in the Copyright Act are not adequate to stem the tide of piracy and other forms of criminal infringement of Copyrights in Nigeria; the Nigerian Copyright Commission has not been very efficient in the use of its powers to stem the tide of piracy and criminal infringement of Copyrights in Nigeria, in that the powers and functions of the Nigerian Copyright Commission in the arrest and prosecution of criminal infringers of Copyrights appears to have been taken over by Copyright Management Organizations.
Finally, this work underscores the fact that there is the need to review the provisions of the extant Copyright Act, with a view to the increase its scope of coverage of criminal infringement of Copyrights in Nigeria, and further reveals the need for Government and other stakeholders to re-double the efforts towards the strengthening of the existing Institutional framework for the prohibition of piracy and criminal infringement of Copyrights.
