CHAPTER ONE GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

Copyright is one of the intellectual property that possesses the essential attributes of ownership and transmissibility.¹ The ownership in copyright is transferrable as movable property by assignment, testamentary disposition or by operation of law.² Therefore, the incidence of ownership is subject to any contractual agreement that may exist between the author and other persons before or after the creation of the work. In the same vein, the provisions of the Copyright Act³ concerning first ownership of copyright and  its consequences are also subject to the traditional tenet of freedom of contract.⁴

However, unlike many other movable properties, copyright ownership cannot be taken into physical possession. It falls into that class of properties more appropriately described as choses in action.⁵ This is because rather than the proprietary right over it being exercised through physical possession, it can only be realized by an action in court.⁶ What  the owner has is a right of action.

Ownership in copyright comes into existence automatically without need for formalities.⁷ The result is that it is possible for the question of ownership never to arise at all, until  the copyright is the subject of some dispute. It will then be necessary to work out who is the owner, with no assistance from registers or formal documents. The rules of law governing ownership of copyright are therefore important.⁸ Authorship and ownership as distinct concepts under the Nigerian copyright law are very important in exploiting the fruits in a  work and laying claim to copyright protection. Ownership flows from authorship.

The person who makes the work is normally the first owner of the copyright in the work, provided he has not created the work in the course of employment in which case his employer will be the first owner of copyright. The owner of the copyright in a work may decide to exploit the work by the use of one or more contractual methods. He may grant a licence to allow others exploit the work while he retains ownership of copyright. Alternatively, the owner may assign the copyright to another that is transfer the ownership of the copyright to a new owner, relinquishing the economic rights under copyright law.

Under the Nigerian Copyright Act,⁹ ownership of copyright is not automatic.¹⁰ For example, if the author is not a citizen of Nigeria or domiciled in Nigeria, he cannot lay claim to copyright ownership, unless the work was first published in Nigeria or being sound recording made in Nigeria. Likewise, if by contract of employment, an author transferred the copyright in his work to the employer, he cannot also lay claim to copyright ownership.¹¹ The Copyright Act provides guide as to who may claim copyright and the duration within which such copyright ownership will last. The statutory provisions also define the extent of the copyright owner and limits to these rights.