Igelige Petitions NCC, Accuses Melrose, Macmillan and UBEC of Copyright Infringement

A prominent entertainment lawyer, Rockson Igelige has petitioned the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) over an alleged copyright infringement of a dramatic literary work of Mr. Elias Ozikpu by Melrose Books and Publishing Ltd, Macmillan Nigeria Publishers Ltd, and Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).

The petition was addressed to the Director General of NCC, Mr John Asein and dated February 9, 2020. While accusing Melrose and Macmillan of copyright fraud, Igelige stated that Melrose Books and Publishing Ltd fraudulently published the manuscript of Mr Elias Ozikpu titled Heroes of the Night  without the authorization, license and consent of the author and later sold the publishing rights of the stolen literary work to Macmillan Nigeria Publishers Ltd, “which had in turn included Heroes of the Night in its bid to UBEC for the supply of books to secondary schools nationwide”, doing so, curiously, by hiding the name of Mr. Elias Ozikpu as the rightful author of the work and substituting same with Melrose.

The petition, which was obtained by our correspondent, reads in part, “Upon completion of the final manuscript of Heroes of the Night, our Client (Mr Elias Ozikpu) forwarded same on 14^th May 2012, via electronic mail or e-mail, to Melrose to enquire if they would publish the work. Melrose agreed to publish the manuscript upon terms expressed in a Memorandum of Agreement which our Client duly executed and returned. Having waited for five months without hearing from Melrose, our Client emailed Melrose to enquire about the expected publication date of his manuscript. He received no reply, so he wrote yet again on 4^th September 2013, whereupon Melrose replied to say that the manuscript would be published in the last quarter of 2013. More than eight months after, however, the manuscript was yet to be published, causing our Client to write on 13^th May, 2014, to Melrose seeking an explanation for the failure to do so but got no response. Our Client did not receive an answer to yet another email of 23^rd May, 2014. Four months after, however, Melrose wrote to inform our Client that they had been unable to publish his manuscript due to work pressure.

“Having waited patiently for over two years for Melrose to publish the manuscript of his play Heroes of the Night with no indication that they would ever do so, our Client wrote on 15^th December, 2014 to terminate the contract or Memorandum of Agreement. On 17^th December, 2014 Melrose emailed our Client accepting the termination of the Memorandum of Agreement or contract of book publication and urging him to publish his work with any other publishing company of his choice.

“Unbeknownst to our Client, however, Melrose had, in fact, but without his authorization, license or consent in any form, published his work sometime in 2012, the very same year our Client submitted the manuscript to Melrose! Throughout the period of more than two years of the back-and-forth between Melrose and our Client, they merely disclosed at some point that they had printed a few copies for promotional purposes only, but this is clearly a pre-publication act. Our Client would also later discover that Melrose had sold the reprint or further publication rights to his work to Macmillan, which had in turn included Heroes of Night in its bid to UBEC for the supply of books to secondary schools nationwide, doing so, curiously, by hiding the name of our Client as author and substituting Melrose in his place! Consequently, all three parties — Melrose, Macmillan and UBEC — have jointly and severally profited from the unauthorized and continuing publication, distribution and offer for sale to the general public of our Client’s work”.

Igelige also said due to the high demand of his Client’s work, Heroes of the Night, it has been reprinted on several occasions during the past eight years that his Client’s copyright has been infringed. Igelige, who called on the NCC to as a matter of public importance investigate, prosecute and appropriately sanction the alleged violators when found guilty, said that he has, however, started a move to seek redress for his client, Mr. Elias Ozikpu in the Federal High Court in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/173/2018.

“By this letter, our Client requests that you invoke the investigative and prosecutorial powers of the Commission under the Nigerian Copyright Act to protect his copyright and ensure that violators of copyright are duly sanctioned.

“Please be informed that our Client is already seeking civil remedy at the Federal High Court in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/173/2018”, Igelige concluded.