During the week, it was announced that COSON has gone to the Federal High Court with a 10 Billion Naira lawsuit against the Nigerian Copyright Commission seeking the court's interpretation of the Copyright Act.
The concept of the lawsuit appears to have received significant support within the creative community and among those who understand the law. Not surprising, the perennial Nay Sayers are on overdrive on social media calling me all kinds of names with their very poor language and poor syntax. It is all so laughable.
Can you imagine what would happen if COSON got 10 Billion Naira awarded to it as damages by the courts? Who do you think would be the first to rush to COSON House with demands on how "our money" would be shared? It will be the same Nay Sayers!
COSON was not built on being meek and mild. For much of my adult life, I have traversed the courts in Nigeria to earn respect for the rights of creative people in our nation. I am proud of that record.
I know that there are people who will never enter a court room till they die. They are scared like hell of the courts! It is understandable when you think that a judge can sentence someone to death and the person is executed in broad day light and his life ended. A very young man sitting as a judge can order that an old man forfeits everything he thought belonged to him. Immediately, that becomes a command that must be obeyed. Have you ever been visited by court bailiffs who wake you up before dawn and begin to seize your belongings? Don't listen to anybody who tells you that the law does not work. It does!
I went to court simultaneously against nine broadcast stations to get the broadcast industry in Nigeria to respect the rights of musicians to have their content paid for. I went to court to have MTN, the communication mogul, pay for music content on its platform. I went to court against the Cross River State Government because of the abuse of music content in the popular Calabar Carnival. By the way, we got judgment to the tune of half a billion naira. I have gone to court more times in Nigeria than I can remember.
No great institution in human history has been led by a coward. Cowardice is not a virtue. The day COSON begins to be led by a coward, I am sorry, it will be over.
Have you noticed that in the disagreements in COSON, nobody has slapped anyone? There has been no boxing or wrestling of any type. Nobody has thrown a chair at anyone. There has been no scratching or kicking. Oh! there has been a lot of social media noise but no violence whatsoever. We have depended on the men in wig and gown to go to court and argue our case. That is why COSON continues to work and those who thought COSON would die are surprised. Real strength is not found in kick boxing but on your intellect.
Despite the social media noise, we are not at war with the NCC as an institution. We are clearly unhappy with the way the place is being run. We have gone to court because it is our belief that the system will work better if the limits of everyone's power is determined. That cannot be a bad thing.
There are people who think that we should be afraid of the NCC because they are our "regulators" No! We should respect the NCC and that will only happen if the NCC leadership conducts itself in a way that it is deserving of respect. That cannot happen when there is so much pilfering going on in the place.
With respect to Section 39 of the Copyright Act, I will not discuss it because the matter is in court. I just want to remind people that I am not an ignoramus on the subject. With all humility, no one in Nigeria can claim knowledge of Section 39 of the Copyright Act better than the great former chairman of the NCC, Prof. Egerton Uvieghara and myself. Between the two of us and one Bayo Aiyegbusi who acted as our secretary, we drafted that piece of legislation on behalf of the NCC Governing Board and it was sent to the appropriate authority and promulgated into law without one comma removed. I know the section.
It appears to me that some people are scared that the courts will soon burst their bubble. Nobody should be worried because if we do things right, everyone benefits eventually.
Do you still think that the law does not work? I ask every COSON member to stay tuned.
Please take every precaution you can against the corona virus. It is not a joke.
See you next week.
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