Piracy and its burden on copyright in Nigeria: Challenges and solutions

• Date: 01 July 2020
• Published date: 01 July 2020
• Author: Omotayo F. Awomolo‐Enujiugha
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jwip.12158

J World Intellect Prop. 2020;23:413–429. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jwip © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

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DOI: 10.1111/jwip.12158

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Piracy and its burden on copyright in Nigeria:

Challenges and solutions

Omotayo F. Awomolo‐Enujiugha

Faculty of Law, University of Abuja, Abuja, Nigeria

Correspondence

Omotayo F. Awomolo‐Enujiugha, Faculty of Law, University of Abuja, KM 23, Mohammed Maccido Road, Airport‐Giri Expressway,

Abuja, PMB 117, Abuja 902101, Nigeria.

Email: awomoloomotayo@yahoo.com

1|INTRODUCTION

Over the years, the sharp practice of making exact copies (call it fakes, counterfeits, knock‐offs or any other name)

of already existing products in other to sell for profit, has grown and become rampant. This act, discussed here as

Piracy, has long existed to the chagrin of Intellectual Property (IP) owners and scholars on the topic. Copyright,

being one of the major branches of IP has not gone unaffected by the plague which is a means by which third

parties steal benefits which ordinarily ought to accrue to copyright owners.

In most recent times, these incidents of piracy have multiplied to the point of almost becoming the norm.

It is one of those acts that people execute without even realising that they have done so. Many people engage

in small‐scale piracy every time they share a song or copy a video (Bert, 2019). There also exist many sites

these days which enable users have access free and unlicensed use of copyright protected works or to trade

easily in them or even provide tools to allow others to crack the codes protecting copyrighted material

(Lumen, 2017).

Meanwhile, it is not a new paradigm that all intellectual property rights (IPRs), copyright inclusive, play a

critical role in contributing to the economy as they are a foundation upon which innovation is shared, creativity

encouraged and consumer trust reinforced (Adam, 2011). The central utilitarian rationale of copyright law has

always been that creators can be sufficiently rewarded, that they are incentivized to continue to create because

copyright is an important tool in much economic activity of the creative industries (Susy, 2015).

The existence of piracy therefore becomes troubling to both the creator of the workand the economy at

large because it generally reduces the actual profit

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margin a particular product or creation is projected to

generate. In doing this, it affects demand negatively andthisoftenresultsinlocalartistsabstainingfrom

putting out their work for fear that it will immediately be pirated and that their economic rights will be

violated (World Intellectual Property Organisation, 2015). As a result, Piracy cheats the creator and cheats

the economy, while also stifling creativity as it affects the incentive given to authors and creators to boost

further creativity.

Subsequent discussions herein are again an attempt at analysing the scourge that is piracy, how it affects

copyright and the economy and the likely solutions that could aid in curbing the ill for the betterment of copyright

owners and countries that benefit from them in general.

2|RELEVANT CONCEPTS

2.1 |Copyright

Copyright is a species of IP.

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It is an intangible, incorporeal property, consisting of a bundle of exclusive rights

granted by Government to the creator of an original work for a limited duration of time, as an incentive for further

creations.

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The copyrighted material must be however be original and expressed in one form or the other, as only

individualised expression of ideas can be protected.

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2.2 |Copyright law

Generally, the term copyright law refers to that branch of law which deals with the rights of intellectual creators

whose works fall under the varying categories of works that are entitled to copyright protection and such rights are

respected by the laws of most countries, Nigeria inclusive. The major reason for the recognition by law and respect

of the rights of copyright holders, as with all creators in general, is the need to stimulate and foster the creativity of

men and women in the society.

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In simple terms, copyright law is the law which regulates copyright and all things

related to its enforcement and administration.

2.3 |Piracy

A common understanding of the word Piracy relates to the ancient yet existing practice of certain persons known

as “Pirates”violently taking over the Ship or Vessel of another, usually with the aim of pillaging and taking all

valuables on the said ship and in some cases the ship itself. The use of the word Piracy in respect to copyright, while

not particularly similar to this understanding of Piracy, also has some form of general meaning in the sense that it

relates to theft or pillaging of copyright (Ayoyemi, 2015; Malshe, 2017).

Piracy is the unauthorised and illegal reproduction or distribution of materials protected by copyright, patent,

or trademark law.

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However, piracy must not be understood to only cover the reproduction of physical replicas of a

particular copyrighted material as it could also cover virtual reproduction of copyrighted material and therefore

such unauthorised sharing of copyrighted files could also take place on internet servers or by way of a peer‐to‐peer

service that shares files from an individual's computer.

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Piracy here simply therefore is the unauthorised copy, use and/or distribution of a copyright protected work or

creation of another, where the fair use doctrine does not cover such act, usually with the aim of making profit.

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It could include but is not limited to the use or reproduction of songs, books, computer software, paintings and

other artistic and literary works for profit; the down loading of music, games or movies from unauthorised or

unlicensed sites and without paying of royalty, the making of knock off DVDs or CDs of movies and games so on

and so forth.

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2.3.1 |Piracy versus Copyright infringement

At first appearance “Piracy”could be taken to be simply copyright infringement. It has actually been referred to as a

slang for “copyright infringement”

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and is a term used mostly interchangeably with “copyright infringement”

(Rick, 2018). A closer look in the strict sense would show that the two concepts while closely related are not totally

the same. It has been said and sensibly so too, that “all piracy is copyright infringement, but not all copyright

infringement is piracy”(Themindsabattoir.com, 2012).

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