SOURCE:

Faculty: Law
Department: Law

CONTRIBUTORS:

Umeh, S. O.
Ibe, C. E.

ABSTRACT:

Copyright laws confer on authors a bundle of rights such as the rights of production, publication, performance, adaptation, broadcasting, etc. in relation to their works. This is to encourage authors to create more works by allowing them to reap economic benefits accruing from their creation. In doing so, the laws strike a balance between the enjoyment of these rights and the public interest right of access to copyrightable works for advancement of knowledge and information. This long existing rule has been distorted as a result of the emergence of digitalization and other technical innovations of the 20th and 21st centuries which created more access to copyrightable works; in most cases, unauthorized access, to the detriment of the right owners. This problem is compounded by the legal uncertainties and a number of lacunae inherent in these obsolete copyright laws, especially those of Nigerian and England, which were oriented towards analogue exploitative technologies. The aims and objectives of this research work were to discover the areas of conflict between the authors’ rights and those of the general public in order to provide everlasting solution to these conflicts; and in order to achieve a holistic enforcement of Copyright. In doing so, empirical and doctrinal research methods, as well as analytical and comparative approaches were adopted. Thus, uses of primary source namely, constitutions, Laws, Acts, Gazettes, Law Reports, etc; secondary sources such as law textbooks; and tertiary sources namely newspapers, journal and textbooks from other fields of studies were made. It was found out that copyright infringement thrives in Nigeria, England, India and United States of America as a result of the defective and obsolete Copyright Legislations operating in these jurisdictions which in themselves aid infringement as a result of the defences of innocent infringement, limitation of actions in copyright infringement cases, unguarded uses of technological protective devices that have no room for fair use of protected works; as well as inefficiency copyright enforcement mechanisms operating in these jurisdictions. It was suggested that the Copyright laws of these jurisdictions considered be amended to embrace provisions that will tackle infringement through circumvention of technological protective measures; and provisions that admit of fair use of technologically protected works. It was also suggested that Municipal, Regional and International Copyright Courts should be created to tackle Copyright infringements.