Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Nigeria

Copyright in Nigeria grants to the creator of an original work the right to reproduce (or re record), distribute and communicate the work to the public.

Nigerian Copyright Act recognizes only literary works, musical works, artistic works, cinematograph works, sound recordings and broadcast as eligible for protection. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire falls under a class internationally known as TV program or TV format which is regarded as a form of Intellectual Property right.

Since TV formats are not specifically provided for under the Act, it is safe to assume that they would come within the meaning of broadcast which is defined under the Act as �sound or television broadcast by wireless telegraphy or wire or both, or by satellite or cable programmes and includes re-broadcast�, however the requirement of originality and been fixed in a definite medium as a condition for protection under the Act only applies to literary, musical and artistic works.

It generally believed that TV formats are hard to protect under Copyright, and since the Act does not make any specific reference to TV formats, nothing prevents any person from developing a broadcast (assuming TV formats came within this classification under the Act) or a TV format based on an already existing idea, so long as this is done without the use of the original name and appearance as this would constitute infringement under the Nigerian Trademark Acts.

For more information, contact: Chukwuyere Izuogu (LL.M) Hannover @ [email protected]