Commons talk:Copyright rules by territory/Nigeria

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Copyright Act 2022[edit]

On March 17, 2023, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Copyright Bill of 2022 into law[1]. It repealed the Copyright Act of 2004. It made changes to better synchronize with treaties such as the w:Marrakesh VIP Treaty and the w:Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances[2] and adopted a fair dealing exemption more in line with the United States than the previous law. [2]. As detailed in COM:FOP Nigeria, the new law says "the inclusion in an audiovisual work or a broadcast of an artistic work situated in a place where it can be viewed by the public."[No.8/2022 Sec. 20(1)(e)], whereas the now repealed law said ""The right conferred in respect of a work by section 5 of this Act does not include the right to control ... the reproduction and distribution of copies of any artistic work permanently situated in a place where it can be viewed by the public" which was similar to British FOP law. Since photographs are neither an audiovisual work or a broadcast, there would be no Freedom of Panorama exception for new uploads to Wikimedia Commons after March 17, 2023. The new law is not retroactive so files uploaded before March 17, 2023 would still have FOP apply.--Abzeronow (talk) 19:39, 30 June 2023 (UTC) (copied from special:diff/778933038.)[reply]

  1. ↑ Nigeria Passes New Copyright Act 2022!. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) (May 12, 2023). Retrieved on 30 June 2023.
  2. ↑ a b Nigeria enacts new Copyright Act. Adams & Adams (March 30, 2023). Retrieved on 30 June 2023.
@Abzeronow: Although the new law is not retroactive per se, it seems like it would prevent people from being able to use FOP images from now on regardless of when they were created, as copyright covers reproduction and distribution, not just creation. Without an explicit exemption, the owners of the underlying works would have exclusive control over the ability to utilize images that include their works, AFAICT. Nosferattus (talk) 01:19, 6 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Interesting, @JWilz12345: . If true, it may mean that some Nigerian photographs would have to be deleted. Abzeronow (talk) 15:16, 6 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
@Nosferattus does that mean, even photos that we host since Commons' birth (circa 2004) can no longer be legally permitted? Note that a similar situation was discussed thoroughly regarding Vietnamese FOP (when they restricted FOP to non-commercial use only by New Year's Day of 2023) as well as the case of restricted Guatemalan FOP that began in 2006. JWilz12345 (Talk|Contrib's.) 16:34, 6 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
And by the way, not to mention this DR where I got into a debate with Taivo regarding the issue on retroactivity of the current Seychellois law that does not grant FOP. JWilz12345 (Talk|Contrib's.) 16:43, 6 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
There's probably only one person on Commons who can convincingly answer this question, and that would be the esteemed Carl Lindberg! Nosferattus (talk) 17:43, 6 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
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