African Nations Rife With Illegitimate Collection Societies: Nigeria Files Criminal Complaint Against COSON
from the collecting-crimes dept
You may recall that we have discussed the complete chaos that is copyright collection societies in Kenya over the past few years. At issue in Kenya is that the country has multiple collection societies, which are overseen by a government sanctioned body that can request to look at their books to make sure artists are being paid appropriately, and officially licenses the collection societies themselves. Some of those collection groups have apparently not felt the need to respond to requests for oversight, leading the government to pull or not renew their licenses. Instead of being the end of the story, a number of those collection societies continue to threaten people and collect royalties anyway, acting essentially as an illegal extortion outfit.
Kenya is not the only African nation going through this, it seems. Across the continent on the opposite coast, the Nigerian Copyright Commission has been going through similar issues, specifically with a collection group called COSON.
The Nigerian Copyright Commission has filed a criminal charge against the Copyright Society of Nigeria, its Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji, and principal officers for carrying out the duties of a collecting society without the approval of the Nigerian Copyright Commission.
The NCC, in a statement signed by its Director-General, Afam Ezekude, and made available to our correspondent on Tuesday, said, “In Charge No FHC/L/338C/18, filed on October 8, 2018 at the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court, the accused persons were alleged to have performed the duties of a collecting Society by demanding and collecting royalties from Noah’s Ark of 9 Sowemimo Street, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos.”
The commission also accused COSON of carrying on the business of negotiating and granting licences on behalf of copyright owners without its approval, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under sections 39 (4), (5) and (6) of the Copyright Act Cap C 28 Laws of the Federation of Nigerian 2004.
This is now becoming a trend, with collection societies in several African nations simply and rather brazenly carrying on the business of shaking down businesses for music licensing fees, even beyond the point of their being legally allowed to do so. Frankly, given the copyright collection industry, this is not a huge leap to take. These societies already have many of the hallmarks of extortion rings, with their undercover "patrons" at businesses and their threat letters that might as well begin with, "Nice business you have there. Be a shame if anything happened to it."
But what this really shows, more than anything else, is how many of these copyright collection groups are devoid of any interest in the law, in the artists they represent, or in acting with even a modicum of ethical standards. Instead, these are money-making operations, and that money-making doesn't stop just because the law says they have to.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: collection societies, copyright, corruption, nigeria
Companies: coson
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Isn't copyright law great?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Therefore pirates are justified in stealing US and Euro content?
Apparently so, from first comment.
Having searched the world with the power of Google, criminals in Kenya is all you come up with to further your anti-copyright agenda? Sheesh.
Meanwhile in Japan, they intend to make linking to infringed content punishable by FIVE years in JAIL. That's the only way to deal with piracy.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
As for the country whose arrest rate is so notorious it inspired Capcom to invent Ace Attorney, come back with some stats for how effective your precious enforcement is.
In the meantime, SESTA vote!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Therefore pirates are justified in stealing US and Euro content?
Cool. Better start with the RIAA and MPAA: They're the worst offenders of intellectual property and make the most money off of it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:member when you said you leave forever?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:member when you said you leave forever?
blue boy hasn't gotten over the heartbreak, it seems.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What makes you think someone should receive a five year jail sentence for, say, linking to a “ ‘You Say Run’ Goes with Everything” version of the Spider-Man 2 train sequence—which, if you want to play the technical semantics game, infringes upon the copyrights of both Sony Pictures and TOHO?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
They learn..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Kenya Copyright vs. American Open Source sham
It is well known on every major University campus that if you publish something as Open Source, you are not only politically correct, you can receive very substantial Grants from the NSF and many other government organizations. That is, the American Government is funding Open Source Development with Tax Dollars, which then gets delivered to the Chinese (and others) as “free” IP.
Open Source is just another Globalist technique to rob Americans of American technology. The fact that these efforts are supported by American tax dollars is truly astonishing. When we start putting America First I think Open Source will have to be relegated to Other Countries. Too much technology has already been transferred to our economic competitors (like China), it’s time to put an end to this sham.
MAGA
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Send him home, Jim Downey.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
…then you grift people out of their money while ruining a country, hastening global climate collapse, and doing fuck-all to make sure the democratic norms of that country can and will be followed in the future, thus leaving the door wide open for a legitimately competent fascist?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
As for whether Shiva is a liar, the lawsuit over his invention was brought by him, not Techdirt. He could have continued to promote himself as the undisputed inventor of email, instead of getting a court to state that the nature of who it is cannot be proven.
Of course, he could have also not relied on a worshiper of Massachusetts tiger fairies, but hey - you got what you asked for. The judge read your paragraphs of replying to yourself, saw your dedication to the man and gave him exactly what he deserved. Ooops!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Three things.
Use either “Native American” or “Indigenous American”; “American Indian” is not “redskin”, but it is still a racist term that relies on the name given to the indigenous peoples of the land by a shithead European colonizer.
Nobody ever said a damn thing about Warren’s ancestry, since it has literally nothing to do at all with anything we typically discuss around here.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Kenya Copyright vs. American Open Source sham
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Kenya Copyright vs. American Open Source sham
Assuming you are serious, what exactly is "intellectual" about the software being "stolen" by the Chinese? Is it that oh so clever while loop you invented or is it that unconditional branching because you're such a rebel ...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Kenya Copyright vs. American Open Source sham
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Kenya Copyright vs. American Open Source sham
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Kenya Copyright vs. American Open Source sham
Eventually there will be two classes, the rich and the slaves - wait a sec ....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Kenya Copyright vs. American Open Source sham
That is someone who has bought into Trumps xenophobic anti Hispanic, and Anti Chinese rhetoric. Foreigners stealing American jobs is easier to swallow that the reality, American companies have off-shored jobs to markets where labor is cheaper, and often the workforce is better educated.
Result: those economies are going nuts while ours languish and wages stagnate.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]