COSON Drags Startimes To Court

Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) has just filed an application at the Federal High Court, Lagos requesting the court to issue an order of interlocutory injunction restraining NTA-Star TV Network Ltd, owners of Startimes, the pay TV platform, whether by itself or any of its affiliates from broadcasting, rebroadcasting or communicating to the public on any channel on its platform any musical work and/or sound recording belonging to COSON or ts members pending the determination of the issues.

The application, suit number FHC/CS/1149/14 filed by Mr. Justin Ige of Creative Legal, is supported by a 15 paragraph affidavit sworn to by the Chairman of COSON, Chief Tony Okoroji. In the affidavit, COSON claims that the operators of Startimes have never paid any royalties for the public performance, broadcast or rebroadcast of musical works and sound recordings belonging to the members, assignors and affiliates of COSON and that that there is a real likelihood that the operators of Startimes will continue to engage in the broadcasting, rebroadcasting and public performance of these musical works and sound recordings during the pendency of the suit if they are not restrained.

Startimes however drew the first blood. The Pay TV platform had first gone to court asking for an order restraining COSON “from further writing, threatening or obstructing the Applicant’s business or demanding for royalties pending the determination of the substantive suit”.

In opposing the application by the operators of Startimes, Chief Tony Okoroji, the Chairman of COSON, deposed to a counter affidavit in which he stated that in compliance with the law and respect for the rights of the owners of the intellectual property deployed by all broadcasting platforms in Nigeria, BON IBAN, NBC, NCC and COSON on May 21, 2014 at a widely reported event in Lagos signed an agreement by which every broadcast operator in Nigeria is bound to obtain a licence and pay royalties to COSON for the broadcast of musical works and sound recordings.

According to Chief Okoroji’s affidavit, despite the COSON/BON/IBAN/NBC/NCC Agreement, the provisions of the law and the efforts made by COSON to get the operators of Startimes to respect the intellectual property of COSON members, the operators of Startimes continue to behave as if they are above the law and permitted to freely exploit the intellectual property of free citizens without consequence.

Furthermore, Chief Okoroji stated that the behaviour of the operators of Startimes which he stated is unacceptable in most countries around the world cannot be allowed to continue as it will lead to massive loss of jobs to the Nigerian nation, significant loss of revenue to the country and heavy capital flight from Nigeria.