Royalty collection: Copyright owners decry monopoly by NCC ‘cabal’

The copyright owners raised the issue in a letter to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN) which was co-signed by its National Coordinator, Mike Pam, President, George Dureke and Director, Public Relations, Yinka Davies.According to CCIPO, the idea of NCC cabal collecting societies negates the spirit of President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation […]

The copyright owners raised the issue in a letter to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN) which was co-signed by its National Coordinator, Mike Pam, President, George Dureke and Director, Public Relations, Yinka Davies.
According to CCIPO, the idea of NCC cabal collecting societies negates the spirit of President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda, which centred on observance of the rule of law and opening up the nation’s economy to enable all Nigerians participate.
The copyrights owners are also calling on the attorney general to invoke his powers as the supervisory minister in charge of copyright and other intellectual property matters under Section 50 of the Copyright Act and “kindly intervene to bring justice and equity into the entertainment and intellectual rights sector.”
CCIPO is also asking for the implementation of the December 18, 2013, House of Representatives’ resolution directing the NCC to immediately de-monopolise the collective administration of copyright particularly the business of royalty collection in the entertainment industry.
In the letter, CCIPO recalled that on August 5, 2010, it led a large delegation to protest the monopoly imposed on the business of collecting societies in the copyright sector of the economy by a cabal in the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) and demanded for immediate de-monopolisation of collective administration of copyright, particularly the business of royalty collection in the entertainment industry.
According to them, the minister had on that day promised that the issue would be resolved within two weeks of their visit and told them to hold him to his words.
They, however, regretted that “four years after the promise and assurances, nothing has changed except for the removal of the erstwhile Director General of the NCC, Mr. Adebambo Adewopo, and replacing him with Mr. Afam Ezekude, who by his actions has proved to be two sides of the same coin.”
“Rather than opening up the sector by embracing deregulation in the spirit of the Transformation Agenda of Mr. President, he has shrivelled the regulatory regime the more. Thus the imposed monopoly has continued and become entrenched. This has become unbearable for genuine copyright and other intellectual property owners in Nigeria, particularly our members whose constitutional and fundamental human rights are being trampled upon,” a part of the letter read.