The never ending challenge of movie piracy Nollywood face

Nigerian filmmakers in Nollywood constantly complain of movie piracy. This prevents them from making direct sales from their hard-earned work. It means someone else is infringing on their copyright by selling their work and making money on their behalf. The irony is that sometimes these pirated copies sell more because they are easily accessible to people.

A decade ago, pirated movies were only available on CDs which made it easier to eliminate. With the influx of internet users, Telegram has become a hub of pirated movies. A Nigerian movie producer, Omoni Oboli complained last week that even her YouTube movies are pirated and distributed through Telegram. Movie producers like Wunmi Toriola and Toyin Abraham continue to battle the piracy of their movies each time they release a movie.

In the battle against movie piracy, filmmakers make their movies available in cinemas to watch where they make direct sales from tickets sold. Regardless of this method, some movies are still leaked out with people recording their versions in the cinemas. One movie producer who still appears tall amidst the piracy problems is Funke Akindele. She makes quite a tangible amount on movie ticket sales before her movies are either leaked out or released on streaming platforms.

What does the Nigerian law say about movie piracy?

A UNESCO report estimates that between 50% and 70% of revenue in Nigeria’s film market is lost to piracy.

Do you know if you illegally watch a movie, you area liable to spend two years minimum jail time? Illegal in this sense means you do not watch the movie through the due channels provided by the creators of the movie. This is covered under the Nigerian Copyright Act which bestows power on copyright inspectors to enter buildings to confiscate pirated copies. But where everything is majorly online, this Act’s provision is somewhat archaic.

Regardless, Nigerian law frowns at copyright infringement but there are no strict measures put in place to ensure that justice is served to offenders.

Any person who makes or causes to be made for a sale, hire, or trade or business any infringing copy of a work in which copyright subsists, is unless he proves to the satisfaction of the Court that he did not know, and had no reason to believe that any such copy was an infringing copy of any such, guilty of an offence under section 20 of the Copyright Act. Also, he is liable on conviction to a fine of N100 for every copy dealt with in contravention of the section, or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years, or in the case of an individual, to both such fine and imprisonment.^[6]

What is the way forward?

The Nigerian Copyright Act still needs a lot of reforms to make it stricter in its policy outlook. The Act has to keep to its provisions, upgrading it to be able to meet these times of technological advancements.

Additionally, the commission has to work on creating awareness among people on what copyright infringement is, that is, pirated movies. Many people just want to watch movies. They do not care if they are watching the legal version or the pirated copy.

If you watch movies on streaming platforms like Hulu, Disney TV, Prime Video, Apple TV, Netflix, and so on, these are likely the legal versions of the movie. But when you get them from sites that are endorsed by the movie producers or distributed through channels like Telegram, it is likely pirated.

The Nigerian government needs to learn from countries that are dons in battling piracy, for example, the United States.  The United States Copyright Office produces circulars, FAQs, and videos that explain copyright to the layman to discourage patronage of such pirated products. If the Commission can adopt this strategy of educating the masses because more than 50% of the population does not understand the implication of piracy and the redundancy effect it has on original creators. This can be achieved through using social media awareness programs. Many Nigerians can be found on various social media platforms; therefore, social media public awareness is a good place to start.

Filmmakers have to liaise with the government to come up with measures that will curb piracy. Copyright infringement is the biggest problem for a creative person. This rips them off from making money from their work. If you cannot afford a creative piece because of the price the creator has bestowed on it, you should leave it or strive to afford it. It is a crime for you to purchase the illegal version as you are undermining the person’s hard work.