How the Nigerian Supreme Court Finally Resolved the Copyright Collective Management Organizations’ Locus Standi Conundrum

Abstract

The current intelligence is an on an earlier article; copyright collective management organizations in Nigeria: the locus standi conundrum resolved? (Journal of Intellectual Property & Practice, (2019 14(2) 127-135)). The update is impelled by the recent judgement of the Nigerian Supreme Court in the case of Musical Copyright Society Nigeria (MCSN) v Compact Disc Technology Ltd & Ors., SC. 425/2010, 14 December 2018. In this case, the Nigerian Supreme Court confirmed the locus standi of an unapproved collective management organisation (CMO) to initiate copyright infringement actions in terms of the Copyright Act, Cap C28, Laws of the federation of Nigeria, 2004. This update appraised the Supreme Court’s judgment against the backdrop of its earlier decision in the case of Adeokin Records v MCSN, SC. 336/2008, Supreme Court, 13 July 2018 and existing literature on the question of locus standi of unapproved CMOs in Nigeria. It concludes that, based on the 14 December 2018 judgment, the question to be resolved when determining the locus standi of unapproved CMOs is whether or not the CMO obtained the copyright in its repertoire before or after the commencement date of section 17 of the Copyright Act.