Beijing Law Review, 2022, 13, 247-264
https://www.scirp.org/journal/blr
ISSN Online: 2159-4635
ISSN Print: 2159-4627
DOI: 10.4236/blr.2022.132016 May 5, 2022 247 Beijing Law Review
Appraising the Impact of the Nigerian
Copyright Act and Regulations in
Combating Piracy in Nigeria
Uchechukwu Uguru
1
, Moses C. Umobong
2
1
Faculty of Law, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Nigeria
2
Rector, Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, Ikot Osurua, Ikot Ekpene, Nigeria
Abstract
Copyright Piracy is pervasive in Nigeria and consequently, it has affected the
fortunes of copyright owners. The Copyright Act provides for anti-piracy
measures in section 25 of the Act, which empowers the Nigerian Copyright
Commission to make regulations to combat menace. Based on this power, the
Copyright Commission has made regulations and adopted various measures
to combat copyright piracy in Nigeria. This paper examined the impact of the
Copyright Act anti-piracy measures and the copyright regulations on the war
against piracy in Nigeria. It was found that the anti-piracy measures provi-
sions of the Copyright Act and the regulations made pursuant to the Act have
impacted positively on the fight against piracy particularly in the music and
film industries where the Commission has successfully deployed litigation to
hold violators accountable. Despite the positive impact, the paper also found
that the efforts of the Commission to prevent piracy are inadequate, especially
in the area of online/internet piracy where the Commission has not devel-
oped measures to prevent breach of copyright in the music industry. The pa-
per recommended amongst others the strengthening of the anti-piracy meas-
ures under the Copyright Act and the proper training and equipment of the
Nigerian Copyright Commission to enforce the Copyright Act.
Keywords
Copyrights, Piracy, Regulation, Internet, Digital Piracy, Copyright
Commission, Nigeria
1. Introduction
The Nigerian Copyright Act is the extant law regulating copyright issues in Ni-
How to cite this paper: Uguru, U., & Umo-
bong, M. C. (2022). Appraising the Impact
of the Nigerian Copyright Act and Regula-
tions in Combating Piracy in Nigeria. Bei-
jing Law Review, 13, 247-264.
https://doi.org/10.4236/blr.2022.132016
Received: March 9, 2022
Accepted: May 2, 2022
Published: May 5, 2022
Copyright © 2022 by author(s) and
Scientific Research Publishing Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
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