The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has dismissed an interlocutory appeal filed by the Copyright Society of Nigeria Ltd/Gte (COSON) against the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), affirming a Federal High Court decision which refused to grant an injunction restraining the Commission from taking regulatory action against COSON.
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In a unanimous judgment delivered on July 9, 2026, the appellate court held that there was no subsisting operating approval capable of being preserved by an interlocutory injunction, as COSON’s approval had already been suspended and subsequently expired before the substantive suit was instituted.
The court consequently dismissed the appeal for lack of merit and awarded ₦200,000 costs against COSON.
The lead judgment was delivered by Justice Polycarp Terna Kwahar, JCA, with Justices Folasade Ayodeji Ojo and Muslim Sule Hassan concurring.
The appeal arose from a substantive action filed by COSON challenging aspects of the Copyright (Collective Management Organisations) Regulations, 2007.
Pending determination of the substantive suit, COSON had approached the Federal High Court seeking an interlocutory injunction restraining the NCC from revoking its operating approval or interfering with its management, funds, bank accounts, auditing arrangements and royalty-collection activities.
The Federal High Court, however, refused the application in a ruling delivered on December 1, 2021.
The lower court held that an interlocutory injunction could not be used to restrain or reverse an act that had already been completed before the proceedings commenced.
Evidence before the courts showed that COSON’s operating approval had been suspended by the NCC in April 2018 and subsequently expired by effluxion of time in May 2019.
Both events occurred before COSON instituted the substantive action and filed its application for an interlocutory injunction.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, COSON approached the Court of Appeal, asking the appellate court to overturn the Federal High Court’s decision and grant the reliefs sought.
In dismissing the appeal, the Court of Appeal resolved the sole issue for determination in favour of the NCC.
Justice Kwahar held that the affidavit evidence presented by both parties established that COSON’s operations had already become inoperative following the suspension of its licence and the subsequent expiration of the approval before the suit was filed.
The appellate court reaffirmed the principle that an interlocutory injunction is intended to preserve the existing state of affairs pending the determination of a substantive dispute and cannot ordinarily be deployed to reverse an act that had already been completed before litigation began.
According to the court, since COSON’s operating approval had already lapsed, granting the injunction would not have preserved the status quo but would instead have altered it by effectively restoring a regulatory approval that was no longer in existence.
The Court of Appeal therefore found no basis to interfere with the decision of the Federal High Court and dismissed COSON’s appeal for lack of merit.
It consequently affirmed the December 1, 2021 ruling of the Federal High Court and awarded costs of ₦200,000 against COSON.
Reacting to the judgment, the Nigerian Copyright Commission welcomed the decision, saying it confirmed its position that there was no subsisting COSON operating approval for any court to preserve through an interlocutory injunction.
The Commission also reiterated that COSON is presently not approved to operate as a Collective Management Organisation under the regulatory framework administered by the NCC.
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