Updates On Nigerian Copyright Commission's (NCCs) Recent Activities And Other Developments In The Copyright Industry

Fashion design piracy poses a significant threat to Nigeria's creative industry, with designers facing unauthorized copying of their original works. This analysis examines the intellectual property frameworks available to Nigerian fashion designers, including copyright, trademark, patent, and industrial design protections, while exploring the practical challenges of enforcement in a rapidly evolving industry where knockoffs and counterfeits proliferate faster than legal remedies can address them.

A Nigerian Federal High Court has ruled on a high-stakes copyright dispute over the globally acclaimed gospel song "Way Maker," examining whether a music producer's technical contributions to a recording constitute co-authorship. The judgment clarifies the critical distinction between creative authorship and production services in determining copyright ownership. This decision carries significant implications for how the music industry documents and allocates rights between artists and technical contributor

Fake products in Nigeria require swift legal remedies, decisive civil actions, and proactive brand protection strategies to safeguard consumers and businesses. Without urgent intervention, unsuspecting buyers lose hard-earned money and suffer severe physical harm from substandard goods, while brand owners watch illegal syndicates clone their original packaging, steal their revenue, and destroy decades of commercial goodwill overnight.

Nigeria's creator economy has moved from informal hustle to an investable industry. The 2025 Nigerian Creator Economy Report (NCER), the first government-backed assessment of the sector, valued it at $31.2 million, with the music industry alone paying artists roughly ₦58 billion in royalties in 2024, and the fashion sector growing into a $4.7 billion contributor to GDP. Industry forecasters expect the broader African creator economy to multiply several times over by the end of the decade.

The Nigeria Football Federation's landmark partnership with Adidas, worth a guaranteed $8.5 million annually, marks a significant shift in how African sports federations structure commercial deals. Beyond the headline figures lies a sophisticated intellectual property framework built on merchandise royalties, brand protection, and licensing rights that could reshape the commercial landscape of African sport.

Trademark registration in Nigeria involves multiple stages including preliminary searches, filing, examination, publication, and opposition periods. Understanding the timeline and factors that can affect the registration process is essential for businesses, entrepreneurs, and foreign investors seeking to protect their brand assets in the Nigerian market.

We currently live in an era where the most valuable assets of a corporation may never be seen, touched, or physically inspected. Patents governing life-saving pharmaceutical compounds, trademarks representing decades of consumer trust, software architectures powering digital economies, and trade secrets encoding proprietary processes have displaced machinery, land, and buildings as the primary reservoirs of corporate wealth.

A trademark is an intellectual property which may take the form of a logo, word, phrase or symbol, sign, design, etc.

FRAND licensing balances patent rights with technological advancement by requiring Standard Essential Patent owners to license their technology on Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory terms. This article examines the legal principles, commercial dynamics, and key challenges in FRAND licensing, including recent litigation and emerging trends in global patent enforcement.

In our world today where artistic works (films, music, plays, photographs, etc.) can be shared easily across various social media platforms and illegal websites, it is important for Nigerian artists to be knowledgeable on how they can rein in unauthorised appropriations and profit from their works reproduced, performed, and shared on various social media platforms and websites.

Litigation officers, often called litigation assistants or clerks are fixtures in many Nigerian law firms, due to the vital nature of their services.

The concept of Guarantorship is often taken for granted in Nigeria. The seemingly small request we now hear from friends, family members or even colleagues can be captured in the following sample appeal: “I collected one small loan, and I need you to be my guarantor. Please just sign here, I already know how to pay back; it will not be a big deal.”

The legal landscape in Nigeria pertaining to data privacy and protection is dynamic and ever-changing, influenced by a blend of sector specific regulations, recent laws, and constitutional provisions.

Generally, the court's judgment is the fruit of every litigation, and the outcome of every legal dispute that is referred for resolution by the Court.

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has introduced four key instruments to strengthen Nigeria’s cloud governance, digital infrastructure, and investment landscape: the National Cloud Computing Guideline 2026, National Cloud Technical Guideline 2026, National Digital Infrastructure Assurance Framework (NDIAF), and National Cloud Investment Strategy. The Guidelines, signed by the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, on 4 August 2026, are scheduled to take effect on 1 January 2027.1

Gas flaring has been a source of pollution in the Niger Delta region for more than six decades, polluting the atmosphere the soil, and eroding the lives of communities living in one of the most oil-rich regions in Africa. The Nigerian government's efforts at solving this environmental problem have been characterized by delay and capture. The enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act 20212 represents the most ambitious legislative attempt yet to bring routine flaring to an end, through an explicit statutory prohibition, mandatory monetisation planning, and a new institutional architecture anchored around the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.

The word ‘absentia’ is a Latin term meaning ‘absence’. Trial in absentia occurs when a defendant is tried in his/her absence. This practice developed from the need to ensure justice and remedy the plague of absconding defendants, a trend that frustrated the judicial process.

Modern legal practice has long evolved beyond witnesses testifying fully in court for their evidence-in-chief.2 To save valuable judicial time by expediting proceedings, and to enhance the due administration of justice, witnesses in civil proceedings now adopt their pre-prepared written statements at trial.

The emergence of deepfakes has introduced a new challenge for Nigerian law as artificial intelligence (AI) now has the ability to misrepresent a person's identity through fabricated digital content that looks genuine. A notable example occurred on 27 May 2026, when an audio recording attributed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu circulated online and was subsequently reported to have been AI-generated. T

We currently live in an era where the most valuable assets of a corporation may never be seen, touched, or physically inspected. Patents governing life-saving pharmaceutical compounds, trademarks representing decades of consumer trust, software architectures powering digital economies, and trade secrets encoding proprietary processes have displaced machinery, land, and buildings as the primary reservoirs of corporate wealth.