First look at the 2015 Draft of the Nigerian Copyright Bill

The Registrar of the Copyright Comission recently released a notice requesting for comments on a newly drafted Copyright Bill found here and here .

Since its independence in 1960, Nigeria has had two indigenous copyright legislations:

The Copyright Decree of 1970; and

The Copyright Decree 47 of 1988 (later codified as Copyright Act, Chapter C28, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 - following amendments in 1992 and 1999). The being the current operating legislation.

Nigeria has not had a holistic review of its policy and legal framework on Copyright since the promulgation of the Copyright Decree of 1988, despite there being many significant developments both in the international and regional copyright regimes. In November 2012, the Nigerian Copyright Commission (the Commission), formally launched its plans to reform the Copyright Act .

After almost 3 years of consulation and drafting, the Commission has released the first draft of the Revised Copyright Bill (the Bill) and on the face of it, is noticeably more detailed than the current Copyright Act, with 88 sections divided into eleven parts providing for works eligible for copyright protection, exceptions to copyright control, transfers licenses, anti-piracy measures, protection of online content and protection of expressions of folklore.

The notice sent out by the commission requests comments on the bill from stakeholders, members of the public other agencies of government, whose mandates touches on the regulation of the creative industries, to study the bill. The notice further states that all constructive comments will be given thorough consideration and where relevant, reflected in the final draft bill.

Comments may be submitted online through the Commissions web-portal, or forwarded in hard Copy to

The Director General

Copyright Commission’s Head Office,

Federal Secretariat,

Phase 1,

Annex II,

Shehu Shagari Way,

Maitama,

P. M. B 406,

Garki,

Abuja.

All comments must be received by the Commission not later than January 5, 2016.