Creatives should deposit their works with NCC to avoid IP theft – NCC boss
By Abimbola Mohammed
Charles Amudipe, deputy director of operations, Nigeria Copyright Commission (NCC), has urged creatives in the country to protect their works by depositing their content either online or offline with the commission. This, he noted, will help to bring the issue of intellectual property theft to the barest minimum.
According to the commission, keeping the works under its care is in line with the law and will make it easier to go after pirates and intellectual property thieves as well as prosecute them when found guilty.
Amudipe made this submission at the just concluded DSTV Multichoice fire side chat on “Piracy Untells Our Stories” event, themed: “The Economic Impact of Piracy: Lost Revenues and Jobs”.
His words: “The law provides for creative owners to deposit their works with Nigeria Copyright Commission and once that is done, two things have been established: one is that the commission is aware of the existence of the work – two is that when there is an issues on that particular work the creative can come with their proof of ownership. Then the commission, through the depository system that is in place, will check the system and establish that the work truly belongs to the original owner.
“Although we have also had cases where people come to lay false claims on other people’s works, we investigate who actually owns the work by calling the two parties involved and investigating to establish who the real owner is based on our records.”
He added that the fight against piracy is a big challenge while restating the commission’s commitment to fighting for creatives to minimize the menace. For him, it also will enable talents to enjoy the time, energy and money they put together to create the educative, entertaining contents.
“It’s your primary duty to put measures in place to protect your work, then the secondary level is for NCC, with the help of the law, to assist you when you have issues.”
Speaking on the damages piracy causes and its danger to the economy, Amudipe said, “What the pirate does is to exploit the creative work without the permission of the owner in different forms, wether by reproduction of the work or by making it available to the public through adaptation or whatever forms without permission of the original owner.”
Touching on the measures that the law has put in place for offenders and copyright theft, he said: “My DG usually tells the industry players that the only reason NCC exists is to make sure they benefit from their works. So, with that in mind, the commission is ever willing to assist in whatever way we can. I will advocate that we keep going after these people either physically or online.
“For now the 2022 Act has expanded the scope. Before now there were no provisions to bring down piracy websites that are involved in showing other people’s content. But now there are sections and there are penalties in the new law that give room for us to go after these people online and shut them down. The measures for bringing down sites that are involved in piracy have been put in place. The operation is called “Take Down”. We do it in collaboration with Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation.”
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