The Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria, PMAN says it has been
following events in the music industry particularly as they relate to the issue
of management of copyright and collection of royalties for music and sound
recordings,
PMAN said it has also read carefully many claims by the management of
COSON and statements and interviews issued by those sympathetic to COSON and
its current travails with the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), which is the
Federal Government agency for the regulation and supervision of copyright
matters with notes taken from MCSN’s clarifications on various
court judgements at the Federal High Court, Court of Appeal and
Supreme Court of Nigeria.
As the umbrella body representing the teeming masses of Nigeria
musicians and creators of sound recordings whose members are mostly affected by
the subject matter of copyright and royalty collections, PMAN through her
National President, Pretty Okafor, says she can no longer sit on the fence
while all the mess that has dominated the space for too long persists to the
detriment of our collective well being and economic benefits.
Therefore, the association has taken a stand and in doing that, has
considered all the facts, law and innuendos issued on the subject matter by all
parties, but we would only be swayed by available facts and law as gleaned from
the independent investigation and findings of PMAN ans established the
following,
COSON’s licence or approval to operate as a collective management
organisation (CMO) was suspended by letter and notice published in the first
quarter of 2018 and the suspension has not been lifted based on non-fulfilment
of and non-compliance with certain requirements placed on COSON by Copyright
Act 2004 and the Copyright (Collective Management Organisations) 2007 and as
directed by the NCC.
Rather than dealing with the legal and regulatory requirements placed
upon COSON, the leadership of COSON resorted into personality attacks and suing
certain individual officials of the NCC to court.
COSON also sued the NCC and its Director General for suspending its
licence or approval as CMO, a suit which the Federal High Court dismissed in
early 2020. COSON claims that it has filed an appeal against the
judgement.
MCSN on the other hand has been established and operating since 1984
mainly as an owner, assignee and exclusive licensee of a huge repertoire of
copyright works spanning musical works, sound recordings, dramatic works and
audio-visual works before the introduction of CMO into our laws which
culminated in the Copyright Act 2004.
PMAN found that MCSN made its very first local and international general
distributions in 1987 and has consistently built on this effort until the
operations of the Society were totally encumbered in 2010 when COSON was
announced as the only licensed or approved CMO in Nigeria.
PMAN established the fact that MCSN has always be willing and complying
with every copyright regulations and requirements starting from 1994 till 2010
and at every point, the people who formed what eventually became what is now
known as COSON have been behind the very negative attitude displayed to MCSN
from the regulatory authority, Nigerian Copyright Commission. These
were confirmed by various campaigns and court cases and judgements particularly
in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/61/2007: PMRS vs. NCC & Ors., Suit No.
FHC/L/CS/1259/2017: COSON vs. MCSN & Ors, and Suit No. FHC/L/CS/425/2020:
COSON vs. NCC & Ors., to mention just a few. COSON, as it was
then and now known, lost all these cases but it claims that it has filed
appeals against the judgements.
MCSN made every efforts to have a peaceful and mutually beneficial
engagements with the NCC but resorted to litigation when such efforts failed
and as last resort.
PMAN found and satisfactorily so, that all the cases between MCSN and
NCC were amicably resolved on the directive of the Honourable Attorney General
of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, who
further directed that NCC should grant approval to MCSN as a CMO.
PMAN found that the directive to amicably end the cases between MCSN and
NCC and the approval granted to MCSN to operate as a CMO angered COSON, whose
erstwhile Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji, went all out to denigrate the person
and the office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and
Minister of Justice, also with transferred aggression to NCC’s top officials
starting from Mr. Ezekude and now Mr. John Asein. Erstwhile Director
General of the NCC, Mr. Adebambo Adewopo, had his own taste of this treatment,
from COSON for perceived sympathy for MCSN.
COSON eventually launched a case against MCSN, NCC and the Honourable
Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice in Suit No.
FHC/L/CS/1259/2017 COSON vs. MCSN & Ors. COSON eventually
lost the case and claims that it has filed an appeal against the judgement.
PMAN found that many cases instituted on the subject matter of
collecting society (CMO) and instigated by COSON’s leadership as PMRS were
pending before various courts since 1995, some of which went up to the Court of
Appeal and eventually terminated at the Supreme Court all in favour of MCSN.
Two of such cases in which judgements were entered in favour of MCSN at
the Supreme Court are:
Judgement of 13 July 2018 in SC. 366/2008: Musical Copyright Society of
Nigeria Ltd/Gte vs. Adeokin Records Co. & Anor., reported in (2018) 15 NWLR
(Pt. 1643) 550.
Judgement of 14 December 2018 in SC. 425: Musical Copyright Society of
Nigeria Ltd/Gte vs. Compact Discs Technologies Limited & Ors., reported in
(2019) 4 NWLR (Pt. 1661) 1.
MCSN also has in its legal armoury the recent judgement of the Court of
Appeal in Appeal No. CA/L/188/18: Multichoice Nigeria Limited vs. Musical
Copyright Society Nigeria Ltd/Gte, in which the Court confirmed an award in
damages of the whopping sum of N5.9 Billion in favour of MCSN. This
is a major break-through for copyright owners in Nigeria by a CMO.
MCSN also got a judgement in suit No. FHC/L/CS/274/2010: MCSN vs. COSON &
Ors in which the court ordered the striking down of COSON as an incorporated
company in Nigeria and declared COSON as not having the requisite standing for
approval to operate as a collective management organization in the country.
The Court also on 24th June 2020 in a ruling refused an application of
COSON for stay of execution of the judgement.
PMAN discovered that certain big corporate companies which heavily use
musical works and sound recordings in their daily business operations are
behind and fuelling the crises by illegally paying royalties to wrong
organisations without NCC’s licence or judgement of the court. Multichoice
Nigeria Limited (owners of DSTV and GoTV) is in this class of exploiters of our
musical works and sound recordings.
From the foregoing findings, PMAN has reached the following inevitable
conclusion, which every objective observer would readily agree with:
Nigerian musicians and creators of works and products are at the
receiving end of these crises which have lasted for nearly 30 years.
While MCSN has maintained its status, focus and objectives in spite of
life-threatening challenges and encumbrances including its officials being
severally remanded in prison custody, COSON’s and its predecessors’ leadership
have continued to change name, status and platforms like
chameleon. PMAN found from records that COSON started out first as
Performing Rights Organisation of Nigeria (PERON); later Performing and
Mechanical Rights Society (PMRS) and lately Copyright Society of Nigeria
(COSON) with shifting and confused objectives and focus. For
instance, it is not the objective of a CMO to organise beauty pageants or any
form of such activities in which musicians’ funds were wastefully sunk.
MCSN has a plethora of judgements and authorities behind it while COSON
has pending cases or pending appeals at appellate court.
PMAN would not comment on personality issues, as we believe that the
affected individuals are capable of speaking or acting for themselves, but PMAN
would certainly sieve through the issues to separate truth from lies and would
publish its findings in due course.
PMAN declares that the situation can no longer be tolerated and
therefore calls for the following to be taken as urgent action:
NCC should forthwith deploy its regulatory and enforcement authority
against anyone or organisation found to be undermining or infringing the
provisions of the Copyright Act 2004 and the Copyright (Collective Management
Regulations) 2007.
PMAN would continue to impress it upon and collaborate with NCC to begin
to effectively confront all infringers of copyright in Nigeria and PMAN demands
that the enforcement powers of the NCC should be made readily available for
this action.
iii. Consumers of musical works and
sound recordings, which are essentially PMAN members’ products are hereby put
on notice and requested to obtain necessary licences for the use of the works
from the approved organisation(s) as licensed by the NCC and adjudged by the
Supreme Court of Nigeria.
As it stands, PMAN can no longer stand aloof while its members continue
to wallow and die in avoidable poverty, this is according to its President,
Pretty Okafor.
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