Benue State University, Makurdi

Interface of Copyright Litigation and Conflict of Laws: A Reflection on the Nigerian Copyright Act.

Anthony A. Ijohor^*
Joseph Jar Kur^*

Abstract

The paper has interrogated the applicable choice of legal regime in copyright litigation. It considered the situs of intangible property in conflict of laws particularly as it affects copyright infringement in the digital era. The paper has interrogated whether it is possible to rely on conflict of law’s physical concepts such as lex loci contractus or lex fori or lex loci delicti in dealing with intangible goods such as copyright or shall there be formulated new rules of conflict for intellectual property concerns. The paper proceeded to adapt Professor Ginsburg’s hierarchical model suggestion with a slight modification with the introduction of the lex proprietas theory. The paper also considered, possible internal conflict situations that may arise in adjudicating copyright infringements litigation in Nigeria and, the jurisdictional problems of ownership of copyright in a work (which is an incorporeal right),as against ownership of the work perse (which is ownership in the object of corporeal substance) and the corresponding conflicts imminent in the provisions of section 46 of the Copyright Act and Section 251(1) of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1 , as well as Section 254(c)of the National Industrial Court Act as amended by the Third Alteration Act,2010 relating to disputes of Copyright Ownership made by authors’ in the course of employment’ and ‘contracts of service or apprenticeship of simple contracts involving copyright items. The paper ended up with recommendations for amendment of the sections.

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