DATE: 22 MAY 2020
TIME: 7:00PM – 7:35PM
TOPIC: Authorship in Copyright
SPEAKER: Deborah Nwanguma, Esq.
MIPLG commenced a virtual seminar series for the personal development of its members and affiliates on 22 May 2020. The seminar commenced at 7:00PM moderated by Victoria Onyeagbako. She delivered a brief welcome address to all participants and introduced the speaker for the session- Deborah Nwanguma.
Deborah introduced the topic as Authorship in Copyright. She stated that references would be made, in the course of her presentation, to the Copyright Act, CAP C28 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004. The speaker explained that the concept of Authorship as it relates to copyright. She explained that an ‘Author’ is simply one who gives life to an idea, that is, the expression of an idea on tangible meduim. For books, authors are the writers; in music, the authors the song writers/ musicians and for Sound recordings an author is the sound producer among others. Thus, authors are the creators of works that are the subject matter of intellectual property.
Deborah further stated that, and in accordance with the Copyright Act, an author of a work or a creator is usually the first owner of the said work. It is worthy of note that this is not always the case. However, the distinction between copyright authorship and ownership will be discussed in the next seminar. She explained that copyright confers certain rights on an author such as exclusivity in use and exploitation (production, re-production, sale and distribution amongst others).
In conclusion, she explained that creators must be made to understand their duties, rights and advantages under copyright protection.
There was a brief question and answer session. The speaker expressed sincere gratitude to participants and seminar ended at 7:32PM.
Dated this 23rd Day of May 2020
Rapporteur,
Emmanuel Bugyei.
