Hard To Protect Rights On Social Media – Amudipe Tells Artists … As Uniuyo Artists Honour Don At 65
By UbongAbasi Ise
The Uyo Office’s Head of Nigerian Copyright Commission,
Mr. Charles Amudipe, has opened up on basic limitation faced by his commission
in controlling arts and intellectual properties on the internet.
Amudipe, who brainstormed on the theme, Copyright Law and the Visual Arts in Nigeria
in the University during a roundtable
discourse in honour of Dr. Enoidem Udoh at 65th birthday anniversary
which was organized by the Department of Fine and Industrial Arts on Wednesday,
said that in the current copyright law, the Nigerian Copyright Commission has
no direct power to control copyrights on the internet because of lack of established
laws in that regards as he noted that there is a bill at the national assembly,
if passed to law, would take care of any drawback on the control of online property
rights.
He said that currently, the commission is providing a
certain level of protection to online materials through a subsisting memorandum
of understanding with the Nigerian Communication Commission.
Speaking on the duration of copyright, Mr. Charles
Amudipe said that for literary and artistic works, copyrights cover a lifetime
of an author including 70 years after death, while that of photographic work lasts
50 years irrespective of whether the author is dead or alive.
Amudipe, in his paper, stressed how authors would work
around the clock to publish their books only to lose their sweat to piracy.
“Authors work tirelessly to write, rewrite, revise, edit
and publish these books. When a book is pirated, it is not a one person
situation. It is done by (tens of ) thousands, as people keep passing it along.
For every book that is pirated, the author losses economic benefit and someone
else is reaping the benefit of an author’s handwork for free,” he submitted this
in his paper.
The Nigerian Copyright Commission man advised the
University of Uyo arts community not to let out their works without proper
documentation done at the present of a lawyer.
In his remarks, the Head of Department of Fine and
Industrial Arts, Dr. Clement Ekong, called on all artists to give priority to
the protection their works.
“If you believe in arts, and you believe in what you are
doing as an artist, the issue of protecting your works, the issue of
copyrighting your works, and the issue of patenting your works must always be
fresh and new to your ears, and that is the only way we can get our works
protected,” said the department head.
Meanwhile, the exhibition floor for artistic works was on Wednesday thrown open to honour Dr. Enoidem Udoh, a veteran ceramist, and the Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Studies on his 65th birthday anniversary. The event is expected to come to a close on Monday
Source: The Sensor
Newspaper
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