Some stakeholders and entertainment practitioners have called on the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) to ensure strict implementation of existing laws to protect intellectual property rights.
The stakeholders, who made the call in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos, also called for more stringent laws to protect intellectual property rights.
According to them, some of the existing rights are too weak and so have continued to encourage the nefarious activities of pirates.
Jide Kosoko, a thespian said that there was the need to strengthen the laws by making them more stringent to discourage piracy and punish offenders.
“The copyright law is weak, there is need to review some of the laws to make it more stringent for offenders.
“There are still pirates in the society who are infringing on human intellectual property rights,’’ he said.
Raheem Maleek, an artist said that the rights of intellectual property owners were not properly protected by NCC. He appealed to the commission to be strict in the implementation of its laws and punishment of violators.
A publisher, Osasu Amayo, said that pirates had taken over the markets now.
“Most of my works were pirated without my permission.
“We practitioners have not been enjoying the fruit of our labour, all our works are being pirated and our benefits being enjoyed by the pirates,’’ he said.
He urged the commission to be proactive in enacting the laws on infringement.
An actress, Moji Olaiya appealed to the commission to equip its enforcement unit and anti-pirated squad with necessary mechanism needed to fight pirates. She said that the commission’s enforcement unit was not properly armed to tackle the activities of pirates. Olaiya also urged the Federal government to make available all the necessary equipment needed for the commission to discharge its mandate effectively.
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