Copyright commission, Customs seize 20 containers of pirated CDs

Director-General, Nigerian Copyright Commission, Mr. Afam Ezekude

The Nigerian Copyright Commission in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service has seized 20 shipping containers of infringing DVDs, VCDs and books of foreign and local authors.

The Director-General of the copyright commission, Mr. Afam Ezekude, said this at the public presentation of certificate of approval to Audiovisual Rights Society of Nigeria in Abuja on Thursday.

He also disclosed that the commission had introduced electronic registration of copyright works to run side-by-side with the existing paper-based copyright notification scheme.

He said, “Over 180 major anti-piracy operations have been carried out across the country with arrest of 403 suspects and seizure of about 5.9 million units of pirated works with estimated market value of about N6.3bn. Continue...

“Working in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service, we confiscated an unprecedented total number of 20 shipping containers of infringing DVDs, VCDs and books of foreign and local authors.

“The commission has secured 53 criminal convictions against copyright offenders. The sentences ranged from fines to maximum terms of imprisonment as well as both fine and imprisonment. Currently, over 172 criminal copyright infringement cases are pending in various courts across the country.”

Ezekude said the issuance of certificate of approval to Audiovisual Rights Society of Nigeria to serve as a collecting society for film and audio-visual works made for broadcast and similar media would impact positively on the economy of the country.

He said collecting societies were crucial in delivering economic gains of copyright to authors and right owners, particularly in an increasingly complex environment of exploitation of creative content, owing to advancement of technology.

The NCC boss said, “The expanding scope of commercial use of audio-visual products has reached the level which demands the mechanism of collective management to address the needs of both right owners and the users of these works.

“There are businesses whose existence and competiveness depend on the use of works from the creative industries. These include the broadcast industry, telecom sector, hotels and tourism businesses, advertising and branding businesses and the aviation industry.”