What do Intellectual Property Laws say about my creative content on social media?
As long as a work is an original creation and fixed in a digital format, it already has copyright protection!
There must be some limit to the intellectual property violations perpetuated by our very own Alaba boys, right? Apparently not, as Alaba boys strike again! And this time, their victims are said to be Comedy Skit Creators. There have been reports that a couple of people are collating Comedy Skits from Social Media Platforms and selling them as CDs. Just create a mental picture of a 20-in-1 Sinzu vs. Spending skit. Clearly, no one is safe from these ridiculous infractions. But what can you do to protect yourself as a creative? Well, there is one thing: KNOW YOUR RIGHTS. And we are glad to help to help you with that.
Probably the most important subject you need to about this type of creative content on social media is ‘copyright’. So what is a copyright?
A copyright is a legal right granted by a copyright law (The Copyright Act, in Nigeria) that vests in the creator of an original work exclusive right to its use and distribution for a limited time. According to Section 1(1) of the Copyright Act, works eligible for copyright in Nigeria include: Literary works, Musical works, Artistic works, Cinematographic films, Sound recordings and Broadcasts. Note that even these works would only be protected under copyright in Nigeria if: sufficient effort is expended on the work to give it an original character and the work is fixed in a definite medium of expression. In short, copyright would not protect an idea you did not express, neither would it protect a work that is majorly outsourced from somewhere without substantial original contribution.
Furthermore, you don’t have undergo any sort of registration to gain copyright protection as long as it exists in a fixed form (a written manuscript, a picture, a video tape or any known digital or traditional medium of expression). However, it is advisable that you make use of a copyright notice (©) on your works and also deposit a copy of your work with the Nigerian copyright commission.
In addition, the rights copyright confers on authors vary in Nigeria depending on the type of work, howbeit, some rights overlap. In the case of cinematograph films, the category to which comedy skits belong, the author has the exclusive right to (or authorise someone to) make a copy of the film, cause the film to be seen in public, commercially distribute copies of the film to the public and use any part of the film’s soundtrack in another recording. These are referred to as economic rights. There are also moral rights which includes the right of the creator to be named alongside their work anywhere it is used.
Looking at these rights, it is clear that Alaba-boys geng are doing the most in terms of copyright infringement; let us not also forget our online Alaba boys, the youtube-funnyvideos-compilation-geng. As an author, if you are in a bad mood, you can decide to vent the bad energy by going after your copyright infringers. You could initiate a suit against them at a Federal High Court, where if your claim is found valid, you would be entitled to relief in forms of damages, injunction, and accounts.
Finally, you probably should not concern yourself with the expiration of your copyright protection; it is not going to happen during your lifetime. Actually, it will happen 70 years after you are dead in the case of literary, artistic and musical works and 50 years for cinematograph films, photographs, sound recordings and broadcasts. So, just know that the random Iya Tao video on Instagram or Youtube is already protected by copyright. While individuals are free to share across platforms, any form of action on those skits that creates economic benefit for anyone asides the creator or someone granted express authority (license) by the creator is copyright infringement.
You want to know if Intellectual Property protects your messages on WhatsApp? We know you do. See you in the next post.
Author: Fabarebo Victor
