A Scenario On Copyright Infringements: Issues and Legal Solutions

A Scenario On Copyright Infringements: Issues and Legal Solutions 

SCENARIO: A student is producing a poster for the school play. She downloads a picture of the writer of the play that she found on the Internet and used it in her poster. See yourself as a solicitor/defendant, take a stand, and argue for or against the girl’s act in a law court. Be practical and pragmatic in your approach/write up. Did she really violated use act?

Also Read: Piracy of ICT and Software Properties 

The issue is in respect of the infringement of copyright as regulated by the copyright laws. In lieu of this, as a solicitor for the defendant, I would argue that the girl did not in any way violate any copyright laws by using the image of the writer of the play in her poster for the school play.

The Copyright Act clearly provides for the rights of the owners of copyright works in order to protect their works from being infringed upon—or in other words, copied or dealt with in a manner that contravenes the rights provided by the act. However, just like every other law, there is an exception.

The Copyright Act also provides for exceptions to the copyright control of the owners. Hence, it allows some permissible instances or circumstances whereby these copyright works can be used without amounting to infringement.

Also Read: Laws Regulating Computing and The Use of Internet and Digital Tools

On this basis, it is essential to note that the girl is a student and the poster was being produced for a school play, which is a non-profit educational event but not for commercial gain. This type of use is generally considered to be "fair use" under copyright law, which allows for the limited use of copyrighted material without permission for the purpose of education, commentary, news reporting, and other similar purposes. This position is statutorily provided for under The Second Schedule, Paragraph h under The Copyright Act that:

"any use made of a work in an approved educational institution for the educational purposes of that institution, subject to the condition that, if a reproduction is made for any such purpose it shall be destroyed before the end of the prescribed period, of if there is no prescribed period, before the end of the period of 12 months after it was made"

Additionally, since the concept of fair use is recognized under the Act by virtue of paragraph (a) of the Second Schedule of the Copyright Act, it is permissible to use copyrighted material without the permission of the copyright holder, as long as the use is for a specific purpose and does not negatively impact the rights of the copyright holder. In all rights, fair use is a defense to copyright infringement, meaning that if the use of a copyrighted work is found to be fair, it would not be considered an infringement.

Hence, since the girl did not use the entire image, but rather a small portion of it, which is also considered to be fair use. For as stated by Lord Denning in Hubbard v. Vosper, he stated that:

"It is impossible to define what is "fair dealing". It must be a question of degree. You must consider first the number and extent of the quotations and extracts. Are they altogether too many and too long to be fair? Then you must consider the use made of them. If they are used as basis for comment, criticism or review, that may be fair dealing. If they are used to convey same information as the author, for a rival purpose, that may be unfair. Next, you must consider the proportions. To take long extracts and attach short comments may be unfair. Other consideration may be a matter of impression..... The tribunal of fact must decide".

Following from this, it can be said that she didn't infringed the said copyright.

Furthermore, it can be argued that the girl did not have any intention to infringe on the rights of the copyright holder, she simply found the image on the internet and assumed it was free to use. Besides, image rights are not recognized under the Nigerian laws.

Image rights refer to the use, appropriation, and/or exploitation of a person’s image, and include the expression of a personality in the public domain. Since there's no there is no specific legislation that provides for image rights in Nigeria, this implies that a person may not be able to commercialize his image rights or may not be entitled to compensation if these rights are breached. 

Also Read: The Concept of Fair Dealing Under The Nigerian Copyright Act

In reference to this argument, the writer cannot hold her liable because the writer's image rights are not recognized under the Nigeria laws.

In conclusion, while it is important to respect and protect the rights of copyright holders, it is also important to recognize the limitations of copyright law and the rights of individuals to use copyrighted material for legitimate and non-profit purposes. In this case, the girl's use of the image in her poster for the school play is considered to be fair use and therefore does not violate any copyright laws.