Kunle aka Yoyo Poppy is a very talented upcoming artiste. Despite numerous features, his songs been featured on TV shows and thousands of streams on music streaming Services, but Kunle has not made a dime from his music. At his last show before the Coronavirus pandemic, Kunle could not perform despite arriving the venue on time. The technical difficulties on the organizers part led to the cancellation of the show. The organizers however insisted that since he did not perform as stated, he wasn’t entitled to any money, so he was not paid a dime. His friend, MJiggy is also facing serious financial crisis after his record deal with a record label. took another turn due to a clause in the recording contract he ignorantly signed.
Emeka is a photographer. He took a picture of his house backyard and sent to a friend who somehow sent to another friend and the picture landed in the one of the most prolific magazines in the country. Emeka was excited the picture he took had been used in a magazine and started sharing the publication to friends. In all of this, Emeka wasn’t paid a dime or contacted for proper negotiation as to remuneration for his pictures that were used.
One thing common to all these people and their stories is that they displayed total Ignorance of their Intellectual rights and were accordingly exploited. These scenarios are sadly a normal occurrence among creatives in Nigeria. Creatives are exploited of their fundamental benefits and deprived of the enjoyment of the rewards from their talent and their sleepless nights. Creatives are denied the fruits of their labour as they wallow in the sheer ignorance of basic facts about their talent and craft.
This is what the series is aimed at correcting. Correcting the anomaly of ignorance among creatives towards their intellectual property rights.
WHO IS A CREATIVE?
A Creative can simply be defined as an individual that creates, establishes, designs, crafts or develops an idea, concept into a tangible and accessible form based on the originality and uniqueness of their thoughts. Creative creates by exhibiting skill through talent or knowledge or both. Once you create something original or unique in whatever field, you are a Creative. Recording Artistes, Dancers, Painters, Sculptors, Programmers, Videographers, Photographers, Sound Engineers, Music Producers, Artistes and Repertoire (A/R), Song Writers, Interpreters, Authors, Fashion Designers, Spoken Words Artistes and Video Directors among others are Creatives.
WHAT IS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY?
There is no universal definition for Intellectual property. Intellectual property can however be defined as the rights vested in a creator over his Intellectual creation and protected by the law preventing others from exploiting the creation without the Creator’s due authorization and allowing the creator to enjoy rewards and benefits from such Intellectual creation without hindrance from third parties. You used your “Intellect” in creating something, thus whatever you created using your Intellect is your “property”. Intellectual property recognizes the Creator as the Lord and master of their own works and allows the person to enjoy his/her work and use it as he/she wishes provided it is not against stated laws.
Nobody has the right to use your creation or work without due permission and approval from you.
RELEVANT ASPECTS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY TO CREATIVES
There are a lot of aspects under Intellectual property Law but as Creatives and in line with the vision of this series, we will be majorly dealing with the aspects that are quite relevant to Creatives.
1) Copyright – which includes Literary works like (articles, books), music, computer programs, paintings, videos, etc. Like the name implies, a copyright gives you the power to determine who reproduces, uses, assigns or distributes your works. Your songs, written lyrics, the computer program you developed, your sound recording on your phone can all enjoy the benefits provided under copyright, an aspect under Intellectual Property Law. Copyright is so important and essential. Later in the series, we will examine copyright fully using the cases of “Tekno vs Danfo drivers” and “Danny Young vs Tiwa Savage” to get a proper grasp of the concept.
2) Trademarks – covers names of individuals and brand e.g Shomolu Hairs, Slogans of brands, symbols, catchphrases etc. The main essence of trademarks is to legally distinguish your brand from others with regards to the goods and services you offer. Artistes can trademark their stage names to prevent other Artistes from using the name. Some recording Artistes have suffered some losses due to this e.g., Nigerian artiste Poe had to change his name to Ladipoe, Santi to Cruel Santino, Nigga Raw to Mr Raw. We will talk more about this later on in the series.
3) Industrial Designs – Industrial design is the ornamental or aesthetic aspect of a useful article which may consist of the shape, pattern and / or color of the article and must appeal to the eye. In simpler terms, industrial designs deals with the appearance of a product. An example can be seen in fashion designs. Fashion designers, architectural works, bead makers, makers of toys, majorly anyone doing something relating to craft and product design enjoy this aspect of intellectual property.
4) Patents – are the intellectual property aspect that deals with inventions and innovations of a person e.g., someone that invents a machine that can erase human memory completely or chemical that can be used to soften beans in 3 minutes can be said to have created something new. If you have invented something unique that you feel no one has created before, you qualify to enjoy patent rights which is an aspect of Intellectual property.
CREATIVES AND THEIR RESPECTIVE ASPECTS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
• 1) Copyright – Writers, Songwriters, Singers, Performers, Spoken word Artistes, Instrumentalist, Programmers, Photographers.
• 2) Trademark – Graphic designers, Songwriters, Comedians, Presenters, Athletes.
• 3) Industrial Design – Fashion designers, Sculptors, Architects, Product Designers.
• 4) Patents – Scientists, Researchers.