ROTIMI IGE, in this report, writes about the threat to intellectual property by creatives and innovators, and why the relevant industry stakeholders are worried.
Every year, on April 26 content creators and innovators all over the world celebrate the World Intellectual Property Day (WIPD) to learn about the roles that intellectual property (IP) rights play in amplifying innovation and creativity.
According to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), this year’s event “recognises the huge potential of young people to find new and better solutions that support the transition to a sustainable future”.
A statement released on their website where they identified this year’s theme as ‘IP and youth: Innovating for a better future’, reads, “Across the globe, young people are stepping up to innovation challenges, using their energy and ingenuity, curiosity and creativity to steer a course towards a better future. Innovative, energetic and creative minds are helping to drive the changes we need to move to a more sustainable future. This year, we uncover how intellectual property rights can support the youths of tomorrow to create a better future.
“The youths of today are an incredible and largely untapped source of creativity and ingenuity. There are around 1.8 billion young people (aged 24) in the world today. Ninety percent of them live in developing countries. The proportion of young people (under 35) is set to increase in the coming years. In all regions, young people are natural agents of change, carving pathways to a better future.
“Millennials and Gen Z are change-makers; they are pragmatists and are not afraid to speak out and challenge the status quo. Today’s youth are digital natives. They grew up in a connected world with mobile phones and the Internet, where the lines between the physical and digital world is blurred. This has shaped a generation that is arguably the most entrepreneurial, innovative and creative yet.
“Calling all young people, wherever your ambitions lie – the arts, science, technology – a creative and innovative mindset backed-up with IP rights will help you make a difference. So get involved in this year’s campaign and find out what IP can do for you. For policymakers everywhere, we call on you to listen to the needs and concerns of young inventors, creators and entrepreneurs and to develop policies and programs that nurture and support their endeavors to innovate for a better future.”
Responding to the call, many creatives in Nigeria have expressed joy at the recognition of the day in Nigeria. They opined that with the influx of various blue chip giants in the content creation space such as Google, Youtube, Facebook etc, more youths are able to create a better future for themselves and their dependants and have forged a thriving industry. Others have also made a case for some form of regulation and increased efforts to bridge a knowledge gap.
Leading the quest are stakeholders in the entertainment and technology space, with tremendous results witnessed in the last few years by the huge numbers witnessed in the skit-making/comedy industry and the amounts accrued in seed-funding in the fintech space.
Awareness and IP protection have remained the topical issues on the minds of most creatives in Nigeria, seeing as plagiarism remains a huge barrier to content creators in the country. For entertainers, it is ‘normal’ so see original works being duplicated or copied without particular reference to its originators. With the rise of the skit making industry, many have become worried about intellectual property protection, seeing as these skit makers make shorter videos of previously recorded works or jokes and profit from it, most times more than the originators.
Speaking on the trend, popular comedian and master compere, Segun Ogundipe, better known as Laf’up, in a chat with Friday Treat said, “In my opinion, the history of comedy skits dates back to the golden era of the comedy traveling theatre of the grandmaster Baba Sala, Ade love and his contemporaries to the comic master, Gbenga Adeboye, who took it to another level with modern music ‘parodies’ in short tracks. One must also mention Jagua, Basiru Adisa-baba Gboin to mention a few in this space.
“Comedy skits are not new, the medium has only changed over time. It was called playlets, then sketches and later comedy skits. My crew, the ‘Efrebor’ crew was popular for comedy skits in Ibadan. Laffomania was another popular group which preceded our own time in ibadan. I performed stand-up comedy in between as the host. These were days before Facebook and YouTube became this popular.
“Comedy skits have served as breaker from tragic plays in the theatre or other events and this made it flourish. The advent of media art affected not just skit comedy but theatre generally. The advancement of technology and smart media has given the skit comedy genre a bigger edge same as music art. It’s easier to now shoot, edit and distribute almost immediately to millions of people who can also reshape and repost. People yearn for content on the go. The world has become so fast and comedy skits allows for the ‘new normal’. Mediation and manipulations inform the comedy skits and it’s a readily available popular art so, naturally, it seems to be taking over the internet.
“I am not quite sure there is a main structure to it as it feeds on trends, immediacy and quite individualistic. It’s free market and is regulation isn’t so much of a bother for the creator. The host platform determines regulation and the audience have a say to what goes if profanity works fine just like the old Roman theatre.
“Finally, it’s a genre or comedy that has come to stay and I enjoy it too. The concern is plagiarism and or incessant issue with originality and controversy around stand up material been ‘lifted’ and adopted for skits. We have to a way around that, if it will be the future of find comedy according to your question”.
For another skit maker, popularly known as Demo pumpin, “Special shout out to the likes of Craze Clown, Iamkanmi (Akanmtheboy), Wofai fada, Aphrican ape (now aphrican ace), Emmaohmagod, Therealfemi, Klintoncod, Ellenbaby to mention but a few. Those were the people who paved the way for what skit making is now (myself included, of course). Due to the short video length on Instagram, we had to go straight to the point. Musicians and people who needed to advertise their goods or services saw us as a faster tool to reach their target audience. I had three different brands I was working with and creating content for them. In fact, the market was quite lucrative at that time. It is still lucrative now but just saturated.
“It got to a certain point that as a musical artiste, if skit makers did not use your songs in their skit, you were not sure if the song would blow! We became a core part of every business’ plan for advertising. We did not have to use or celebrate nudity like it is currently obtainable or use sex and women to drive home the comedy. Nowadays, the reverse is the case and it is quite alarming. Not to belittle the work of the new school skit makers now, I honestly feel that there is a need to pipe down on the use of sex or women (semi-nude) to drive home the comedy. In terms of structure, I really cannot say much because it is a large and open industry.
“ Asides, from Instagram’s basic usage guidelines, there is nothing to control the type and manner of content which is being dished out by skit-makers. In all honesty, I have reduced drastically in skit making because I believe everyone and everything has a phase, a beginning, a peak and an inevitable end. I am tilted more towards the business aspect of the comedy industry now, which is hosting and performing skits at comedy events and hosting all types of other events with an infusion of comedy when and where necessary. I also create content for comedy shows; plan them, and it has been far more lucrative for me.
“One of the many reasons I also reduced skit-making is that people are just looking to poach ideas and repackage them like it’s theirs, and I have been a victim one too many times. The popular ‘Angel’ idea, I can categorically say that I started it and now quite a number of skit makers are doing it. Some even do it exactly how I do it and that is sad. I wish there were a regulatory body that could look into protecting the intellectual property of skit makers and content creators as a whole.
Skit making is a big industry now. It is not a bad idea for it to have a proper structure.
To ensure proper protection, utilization and structure, especially in Nigeria, the U.S Mission, in collaboration with the American Business Council, hosted the second edition of its Intellectual Property (IP) Symposium on “Intellectual Property and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future,” the theme for World IP Day 2022.
The two-day symposium, led by the United States Department of Justice’s INL-funded Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT)’s International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Attorney Adviser (ICHIP), brought together key stakeholders in Nigeria’s IPR protection framework, including leading entertainment and creative industry leaders.
The U.S. Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard, in her speech, noted that protection of intellectual property rights is critical for any economy that wants to foster a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.
Ambassador Leonard noted that strong intellectual property rights protection is essential to creating jobs and opening new markets for goods and services. She encouraged stakeholders in the intellectual property space to shore up Nigeria’s IPR legal framework and lay a solid foundation for youth to drive innovation and engender a more prosperous Nigeria.
“Nigerian youths are an incredible source of ingenuity and creativity,” Ambassador Leonard said. “A strong system of intellectual property rights assures inventors, industrial designers, musicians, and artistes alike that their creative content will be protected and valued.”
The symposium featured a plenary session, thematic panel discussions and exhibitions with particular focus on Nigeria’s burgeoning entertainment and creative industries. Participants discussed how intellectual property rights can support their goals, help transform ideas into reality, generate income, create jobs, and make a positive impact.
Leading industry, legal and academic speakers explored options for making Nigerian IP infrastructure work for innovative youths in Nigeria, on one hand, while creative industry pioneers discussed negotiating opportunities for Nigeria’s creative industry. Through economic diplomacy overseas, the United States encourages host-nation governments to establish predictable legal regimes to ensure intellectual property rights can be secured.
The Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, also at various times underscored the need for a comprehensive reform to strengthen intellectual rights in areas of registration, protection, enhancement and enforcement in Nigeria.
The vice president, represented by Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, during a virtual discussion on “Innovation, IP and SMEs: Opportunities and Challenges for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Driving Nigeria’s Economic Recovery” organised by the Sub-Sahara office of World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) to commemorate last year’s World Intellectual Property (IP) Day, said that the digitisation would ultimately offer adequate protection for holders of trademark and patent rights and foster the confidence of businesses across various sectors and strengthen consumer assurance while further noting that the Nigerian Copyrights Commission, after the execution of the memorandum of understanding with WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre on Alternative Dispute Resolution in 2020 enabled SMEs to adopt an alternate system for dispute resolution.
According to him, the resolution which is in diverse fields of intellectual property, including copyright, instead of resorting to court litigation will ensure that disputes are resolved amicably without the cost of legal proceedings. He also expressed dissatisfaction that in the last 10 years, Nigeria had been ranked among the top 10 countries where piracy was most prevalent with the average rate hovering between 80 per cent and 90 percent. This, he attributed to low public awareness about which intellectual property rights are protected under the law and ineffective mechanisms for the protection and enforcement of such rights.
The vice president also noted lack of coordination among various agencies of government involved in the development and protection of intellectual property rights and inadequate sanctions for infringements.
“All these largely make holders of registered intellectual property rights vulnerable to infringements,” he noted.
He called for purposeful collaboration between the ministry, government agencies and private sector organisations to develop policy frameworks toward addressing intellectual property rights infringements in Nigeria.
With such assurances from government, stakeholders in various industries in the country are hoping the intellectual protection rights, will, in the shortest possible time, be backed by a legal framework that will amplify awareness and deliver swift reactions to proven infringements by ‘usurpers’ who hide within the creatives or innovators and currently thrive on plagiarism or copyright theft in Nigeria.
Intellectual theft will continue to rise?
According to a report by the Department for Organised Labour in America, digital theft has a direct negative impact on creative industries and the professionals who work in them, with a cost of at least 290,000 jobs and $29 billion in lost revenue in the film and television industry alone. Creative industries – including motion pictures, television, theater and music – directly employ millions of Americans, bolster local economies, and generate substantial export revenues.
In the report, “Stolen or otherwise illegitimate content undermines the value of creative professionals’ work and threatens their hard-work, pay and benefits. The theft and unlicensed distribution of copyrighted films, television shows, recorded music and live performances also costs the American economy billions of dollars every year. And in today’s digital age, creative works are now able to be stolen and transmitted illegally at rapid speeds and in ever increasing quantities. Strong copyright protections appropriate for the 21st century are necessary to protect middle class professionals’ economic security and protect the future of the creative industries.
“Copyright-protected creative industries power local economies across the United States, contributing more than $1.5 trillion to the nation’s gross domestic product every year, about 7.4 percent of the total U.S. economy. In 2019, these industries employed 5.7 million people, many in good union jobs with family-sustaining wages. Intellectual property theft cuts into the resources available to employ people in the entertainment industry and other copyright-protected industries. While difficult to quantify, one study found that illegal downloads and streaming of film and television productions results in the annual loss of at least 230,000 jobs and $29.2 billion in economic activity.
Intellectual property theft also reduces the real earnings of professionals already working in creative industries. While not typically the copyright holders themselves, when an individual receives credit on a production, they may be entitled to compensation if the material is used beyond its original exhibition. In 2020, through legitimate sales and streams of creative works, SAG-AFTRA members received more than $1.01 billion (at an average amount of $220 per residual check), IATSE members earned $496 million for their pension and health plans, the DGA distributed over $430 million in residuals to members, and writers, including members of the WGAE, earned $529 million.
Globally, their research on the digital theft of music, television, film, software and other published works rose dramatically over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. As quarantines and lockdowns spread across the globe in March 2020, digital theft surged by over 33 percent worldwide. Worldwide, there were 130.5 billion visits to websites that facilitate the theft of creative content in 2020, or about 39 visits per person with access to an internet connection. The United States topped the list of countries with the most visits to these websites, followed by Russia, China, India, and Brazil.
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