Copyright Commission impounds N4.3bn pirated goods in 2012

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Director-General of NCC, Mr. Afam Ezekude THE Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), says it prosecuted 31 copyright cases in 2012,  26 of which were criminal convictions of pirates and five civil suits.

Director-General of NCC, Mr. Afam Ezekude who disclosed this at a media briefing in Abuja, also revealed that the Commission, during intensified anti-piracy operations last year, arrested a total of 85 suspected pirates and confiscated 3,621,787 million units of pirated goods worth about N4.38 billion (N4,379,431,000.00).

Mr. Ezekude said the commission, between July 2011 and December 2012, was able secure 29 convictions of pirates of copyright-protected books, musical and movie works, broadcast signals and software products, saying that the number of convictions shows a phenomenal increase from 10 convictions recorded by the Commission in 10 years, between 2000 and 2010.

“This feat which had never been recorded in the 22 years of the Commission can be traced to the enhanced surveillance activities of the Commission’s operatives, support of stakeholders, and more importantly, our synergy with the Nigerian Customs Service under our Inter-Agency collaboration initiative”, he stated.

Partnership
The Director-General also revealed that the inter-agency partnership between the Commission and the Nigeria Customs has engendered the establishment of a protocol which makes it mandatory for any importer of copyright-protected goods to obtain a letter of clearance from the Commission as a condition for clearance and release of such regulated goods by the Customs.

He noted that the high point of the Commission’s enforcement measures in collaboration with the Customs was the historic and unprecedented confiscation of a total of 13 containers of 3.6 million 3,613,315 units of pirated products, valued at four billion, seven hundred and fifty million Naira (N4.75 billion) at different seaports in the country.

He pointed out that 11 of the containers were loaded with pirated books of Nigerian and foreign authors while the remaining two were loaded with pirated musical and film works of local and foreign titles.

The Director-General stated that on January 25, 2012 in Epe, Lagos State, the Commission also destroyed by public burning 722 million units of various categories of copyright infringing products impounded between 2007 and 2011, estimated at N6.5 billion.

“The essence of the exercise was to ensure that the materials are permanently prevented from entering into the channels of trade; and also send a warning signal to perpetrators of piracy that it was no longer business as usual”, he stated,

Improvement
The NCC boss who noted that there was an improved international rating of Nigeria in the global fight against piracy stated that the enhanced protection of local and foreign copyright works attracted increased investment in the copyright based industries. “There are clear indications of a reduction in the level of domestic piracy which impacted positively in the legitimate copyright businesses as operators have reported over 50% increase in the profit margin for the year under review”, he added.

According to the Director-General, the Commission, last year, initiated a mechanism for the reform of the Nigerian copyright system to address the challenges that modern digital technology pose to the country’s existing inadequate copyright frameworks.

Reforms
Noting that Nigeria was the first African country to undertake the comprehensive copyright reform as did China, India and Brazil, the Director-General stated: “The goals of the reform process include; updating the Copyright Act to meet the challenges of the digital age; to encourage and reward new forms of creativity and provide a platform for the creation, commercialization and broad diffusion of new knowledge, while enabling Nigerian businesses to profit from expanding global trade in cultural goods, which is currently heavily skewed in favour of countries with fully developed copyright systems”.

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