Abstract
The intersection of contract law and copyright in the digital era commercial spaces have continued to elicit heightened scholarly discussions in intellectual property (IP) literature. In an earlier paper[2] on deploying contracts to enhance copyright ownership, I examined how the Nigerian copyright law laid a robust path for contract law to compliment authorial rights in the digital creative spaces for audiovisual works. This paper continues the discussion particularly within the background of the new Nigerian copyright law. It explores further the impelling agency functions of contract for protecting copyrights in audiovisual works. Contractual remedies as a regime of copyright protection and enforcement elicits conflicting jurisprudential approaches within IP scholarship. In the United States, the copyright preemption doctrine nearly disallows the usage of contract to enforce and protect copyright. Other jurisdictions like the European Union-the current directives on copyright and related rights in the single market appear to recognize transactional regimes as an enforcement method for creative authorial rights. In Nigeria, its current copyright law-Copyright Act (2022) has further deepened the jurisprudential space and foundation for recognizing contract laws as an agency for protecting creative works. With near global recognition of the online transactional cultures and norms, the Nigerian copyright law has recognized copyright and contract interrelatedness in creative rights’ protection. The audiovisual subset of the cinematography industries depends on contract regimes to consummate statutory rights granted within the controlling laws. This paper will analyze further how Nollywood, Nigeria’s movie industry will benefit from the enhanced creative jurisprudence and what policy derivatives complement this regime. It will also critically examine contract deliverables beyond its present regime using Nollywood’s entrepreneurial practices as the starting point.
Keywords: digital copyright, intellectual property, contract, license, films, Nollywood, jurisprudence. collective societies and management organizations.
[1] This paper is a longer version of my presentation with similar title during the 41st Congress of ATRIP, at the University of Tokyo, Japan, Summer 2023. ( publication forthcoming).
*Dr. S. Samiái Andrews, SJD., teaches law at Al Yamamah University, College of Law, Al Khobar in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Dr. Samiái is a United States Ambassador’s Distinguished Scholar, a Professor of Intellectual Property Law. He is a former Professor of Intellectual Property Law at the University of Gondar, School of Law, Ethiopia. He was formerly Teaching Assistant-lecturer in the SJD Doctoral Degree Program of Suffolk University Law School Boston Massachusetts USA. He holds a Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) degree from Suffolk University Law School Boston, Massachusetts USA. He holds an LL.M in Intellectual Property Law & Policy from the University of Washington, Seattle. USA. He also holds an LL.M in Jurisprudence & Legal Theory and an LL. B (Hons) all from the University of Uyo, Nigeria. He holds a Barrister-at-law (BL) diploma from the Nigerian Law School, Lagos. A Practicing & Licensed Attorney, and a licensed Capital Market Solicitor
[2] Samuel Samiái Andrews ‘Rethinking transactional jurisprudence in copyright: Nigeria’s unconscious edge’ (2020) 15 Lagos State University Law Journal 165-188; see also SSRN <https://ssrn.com/abstract=3547868> accessed 25 May 2024.
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