Disclaimer: The aim of this article is information and enlightenment; please consult a solicitor for individual professional advice.
BACK TO THE BASICS (PART 1)
We’re going back to the basics. This is because while it would be nice to continue with the sophisticated issues in entertainment law and business, I’ve observed that a lot of people still do not understand some fundamental points.
If you’re a consistent visitor on this blog, you’ll know, by now, that when it comes to entertainment and the law, we’re dealing with far more than copyright. However, because it has a lot to do with the protection of works of entertainment, we’ll start there. This month, we’ll briefly address what it takes to protect certain entertainment products.
Copyright protection gives the creator of a ‘copyrightable work’ (a work eligible for copyright, like a song, a script, or a movie) a diverse set of exclusive rights over their work for a limited period of time. These rights enable the creator to control the economic use of their work in a number of ways and to receive payment.
In Nigeria, there are no statutory requirements for a work to be registered before it can enjoy copyright protection. Once the work is original and it is created and fixed on a tangible medium or material from which it can be perceived (for instance, paper, disk, tape, canvass), copyright protection automatically becomes available, whether the work is published or not.
Having explained that a work enjoys protection without any further formalities, it is important to sound a note of warning. While a work is ‘protected’, it may not really enjoy the protection. Some difficulties may arise if you want to enforce your rights in case of a dispute. Let’s illustrate with an example.
You have written a song from your heart and recorded it on a CD. Automatically, it enjoys copyright protection. You keep the CD. A little while later, you hear a song on the radio that sounds exactly like your own, down to the beats and the lyrics. And if another person claims that you ‘stole’ the song from them, what do you do in that situation? Is your work protected by copyright? Yes it is. Has your work actually enjoyed copyright protection? That is another matter entirely. Of what use is a ‘protection’ that you cannot enjoy? How do you even prove that the song is yours, or that you came up with it first?
The Nigerian Copyright Commission has created a voluntary registration process called the Copyright Notification Scheme. This scheme allows you to register your work with the Commission and your work forms part of their data bank. This process can help you enjoy the protection already intrinsic in your work. It ascertains the time of the creation of the work, so that you may find it easier to prove not only ownership but also priority of creation.
Thus, while registration is not compulsory for an eligible work to enjoy protection, registration under the Copyright Notification Scheme is advisable.
From time to time, we’ll take a pause on the more sophisticated topics and go back to the basics of entertainment law and business. Afterall, what’s the sense in having a beautiful house without a solid foundation?
© 2011 Tinukemi Alabi
Comments/Questions: tinukemi@gmail.com
