NCC seeks stakeholder support on copyright protection

The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) called for increased support from stakeholders in protecting intellectual property (IP) in the country.

Mr Joseph Ajang, NCC State Coordinator in Benin, covering Edo and Delta States, made the appeal in an interview with the Nigerian News Agency (NAN) in Benin on Wednesday.

Ajang said that although the commission has put measures in place to protect intellectual property, some stakeholders have yet to participate in the initiatives.

“We have the Nigerian Electronic Copyright Registration System (NCeRS) where creators of copyrighted works, authors and artists, notify the commission of their intellectual property and are registered in the NCeRS database.

“When we do book inspections or raids on pirated works, we can easily find out the original and pirated copies from the information we have in our database and take the necessary action.

“However, some authors and artists avoid this electronic recording without considering the detrimental effects of piracy on their intellectual property work,” he said.

He also sought the support of school owners and school leaders to ensure that books provided for use were legitimate copies from authorized publishers or resellers.

“Copyright is a private right and it must be protected. Parents, guardians and the general public should support the protection of intellectual property by reporting suspected cases of piracy or distribution of pirated books to the commission, ” he said.

He added that copyright awareness was ongoing in schools, especially private schools which have bookstores and source books through a sales representative.