Online Infringement of Copyright under Nigeria Law
Almost three decades ago, Bill Gates authored an essay titled "Content is King" in which he argued that content is where much of the money would be made on the internet in the future.
That future is here now, and Gates' prediction has become the world's reality. Content is being created, consumed, exploited and traded at even the most basic units of commerce and at a faster pace than ever.
However, more access to content on the internet means that there is more room for online Infringement of copyright and, therefore, a greater need for protection by the law.
Nigeria's lawmakers took up this challenge in enacting the Nigerian Copyright Act, 2022, passed by the National Assembly in March 2023. The new Copyright Act contains novel provisions with respect to online content and online infringement of copyright.
In this third article in Hermon's Intellectual Property Series, we take a detailed look at the novel provisions of the new Copyright Act for the protection of content from online infringement, specifically regarding the taking down of infringing online content.