AFRIFF 2016: Filmmakers meet on copyright matters

The Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) put together a session on Copyright Education to sensitize filmmakers, enthusiasts and the industry in general on the necessity of trade-marking creative and ideas and trading them in order to take full advantage of their potential.

This is against the backdrop of intellectual property theft that is rampant in Nigeria. And as it appears that government is yet to find a solution to the menace, stakeholders thought it was necessary to evolve alternative ways to outsmart violators of their creative rights.

Held at the Genesis Deluxe Cinemas, Lekki, the session started out by creating a better understanding of copyright in general and how it relates to the business of film making, taking into consideration the key role of digital distribution in today’s business model.

The session was facilitated by Isioma Idigbe, a legal practitioner at Punuka, a Lagos based law firm who is also a film enthusiast and sales/acquisitions consultant with knowledge in distribution.

Idigbe had an interactive session with participants in which she carefully laid out the necessary facts needed for both seasoned and budding filmmakers that would ascertain their safety in the field.

“Copyright is only protected when it is expressed. To continue to possess a trademarked idea and prevent it from entering the public domain where it is no longer exclusively owned, there has to be a continuous resuscitation of that idea in order to fully maximize its prospects,” she said.

Closing the session, a case study was brought up to confirm a complete public understanding of the topic of discussion in which participants were duly tested.
Among the industry stakeholders at the conference was Chairman of G-Media, Mr. Gab Okoye, aka Gabosky; Mr. Francis Onwochie, a member of Audio Visual Rights Society of Nigeria, Chinedu Chukwuji, General Manager of Copyrights Society of Nigeria (COSON), filmmaker and media entrepreneur, Charles Novia and Mr Mykel Parish, President of African Film Consortium (AFC).

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