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Tag: AVRS

  • AVRS takes campaign to Kano, Abuja 

    AVRS takes campaign to Kano, Abuja 

    Respect for intellectual property in Nigeria is expected to take a serious turn, as stakeholders of the film industry participated massively in a meeting organised by Audio Visual Rights Society of Nigeria (AVRS) in Kano and Abuja, penultimate week.

    AVRS, Nigeria’s collective management organization for cinematograph films, in February, kick-started the enlightenment campaign series for stakeholders in the film industry in Lagos, with the train moving to Asaba and Benin in April, after the general elections.

    The success stories of earlier events may have re-energised the interest of Kano-based filmmakers who turned out to attend the forum which held at Ni’ima Guest Palace Conference Centre, Old GRA, Kano State.

    Frontline filmmaker and chairman of AVRS, Mahmood Ali-Balogun, remarked that the power of any film medium is largely based on its outreach. This he noted, underscores the recognition of the wide viewership of Hausa films across West and East Africa in particular, which influenced DSTV to open Africa Magic Hausa as a dedicated channel. He enjoined Kano-based filmmakers to formalise their membership of AVRS in order to enjoy the benefits of residual income guaranteed by annual payment of royalties.

    The Kano State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Professor Umar F. Jibril, commended the Federal Government for the approval of AVRS which he described as the best thing to happen to Nigeria’s film industry since independence.

    “The Nigerian film industry has grown through various stages since our political independence in 1960,” Jibril said.

    “And this includes various levels of public exploitation of our creativity, especially with the advent of Nollywood. Having endured this wanton exploitation for decades, while watching our counterparts in other parts of the world benefit from royalties paid on their copyright works, it was a heart-warming development when the news of the approval of AVRS by Nigerian Copyright Commission broke. Make no mistake about it, nothing can boost national productivity from the angle of creative industries more than a reliable intellectual property protection system to ensure that our labours will not be in vain, in the long run.”

    Also speaking, the North-West Zonal Manager of Nigerian Copyright Commission, Alhaji Hassan Usman who represented the Director-General, Mr. Afam Ezekude, reiterated the commitment of NCC towards the total eradication of intellectual property rights abuse in Nigeria. According to him, “piracy is a cancer that has unfortunately metastasized in the body of our creative industries, and as such cannot be stamped out overnight. The NCC is doing its best to eradicate the cancer and would continue to partner with active stakeholders to make more progress.”

    Directors of AVRS, Prince Jide Kosoko, Mr. Fidelis Duker and Dr. Ahmed Sarari who anchored the event, also called on their colleagues in Kano to show stronger commitment to the anti-piracy struggle by supporting AVRS in its bid to get commercial users of audio visual works to pay for their usage.

    The general manager of AVRS, Ms. Eme Akiba-Eyo, a legal practitioner, joined the chairman and directors to respond to the issues raised, with detailed explanation of national and international legal frameworks of collective management.

    The Abuja Forum which held at Merit House, Mr. Mike Akpan, deputy director of NCC, assured participants that the NCC is adopting new measures in the fight against piracy.

    “As new technologies evolve and piracy shifts more and more from physical to digital,” Akpan said, “the NCC has articulated a novel approach to nip digital piracy in the bud. This will soon take effect in collaboration with approved collective management organizations in the creative industries.”

    Both events were well-attended by professionals in the industry.

  • Accolades as NCC approves Audio-Visual Rights Society

    Accolades as NCC approves Audio-Visual Rights Society

    THE move by stakeholders in the Nigerian motion picture industry to secure government license for a Collective Management Organisation (CMO) has received a boost, with the approval of the Audio Visual Rights Society (AVRS).

    The society will be to the film industry, what the popular Copyright Right Society of Nigeria (COSON) is, to the music industry.

    At a press conference announcing the take-off of the AVRS in Lagos, Tuesday, Chairman of the society, Mahmood Ali-Balogun, said that henceforth, the illegal use of intellectual property by individuals and organisations for commercial purposes, without the consent and benefit to right owners, must stop.

    “We want to appeal to every stakeholder, especially users of audio visual works that it is no longer business as usual.  Compensation must be paid for every use of our intellectual property by every broadcast media or organisations that use our works for profitability. Goal posts have moved; licences must be obtained for the exploitation of films and broadcast works. The labour of our creators past and present must not only be in vain but must be compensated now,” he said.

    According to him, people play audio-visual works and even copy them and use them for commercial purposes without permission. He added that, in some cases, some broadcast stations air these works without the consent of the right owners or even do so outside agreed arrangements.

    “For our colleagues in the IP business, it is time to jump unto the train before it gathers speed. Yes, for us to have a relevant and working CMO more advocacy and enlightenment is required but the time to join is now,” Ali-Balogun said, adding that membership is free at the moment.

    The event had a huge turnout of filmmakers, some of them directors of the society. There were also officials of regulation agencies like Mrs. Duro Oni of Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) Lagos office and Mr. Michael Akpan, a director at the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC).

    Ali-Balogun recalled at the event, that, the process began at a consultation meeting organised by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the NCC and NFC in April, 2012, with a follow up meeting in September of the same year.

    “The unanimous decision of the participants at those meetings was to establish a CMO for film and TV rights holders; that is a collective management that would benefit all rights holders in the industry, both economically and from efficiency perspective,” he said, adding that the collective management as a collaborative effort works on not-for-profit basis, as the revenue collected by a CMO is money that it holds in trust for rights holders.

    Ali-Balogun, a foremost movie producer/director and Chairman of the AVRS, went ahead to introduce his team, which include, Emem Akinbairo, a lawyer with specialty in copyright matters as the General Manager, while the likes of Prince Osita Okeke, Chief Gabriel Okoye, Francis Onwuchie, Emem Isong, Fidelis Duker, Andy Amenechi, Bond Emeruwa, Jide Kosoko, Dr. Ahmad Sarari, Tunji Bamishigbin, Patrick Doyle, Emmanuel Isikaku, Chief Aina Kushoro and Peddie Okao are directors.

    According to him, everything is set to make the AVRS to hit the ground running.

    He said: “We have an office and a Board of Directors in place, and I am privileged to be the chairman. We have a management team headed by the General Manager, Emem Akinbairo. We have an accountant, a licensing manager, a licensing officer and a utility assistant. We have been carrying out market analysis to identify users and buyers of the works of our members or people whom we will possibly license to use our members’ works because they have agreed to pay for the rights. For now, we have the office and management set up.”

    The forum provided the opportunity for actors, filmmakers and other stakeholders to ask questions, especially on royalty distribution. Balogun explained that all it required was for them to register with the AVRS and list works whose rights they want the society to manage. He said although the executive producers of film works get the bulk of the royalty, directors and actors in key movie roles also get from the residuals accruing to such works.

    According to the AVRS boss, the money is pooled into an account and AVRS takes only 30 percent of the money as stipulated in the law for administration, while the remaining 70 percent goes to the right owner.

    “Because there are other contributors to the works, the producer or executive producer cannot continue to take royalty in perpetuity; so, you must be ready to release some of that residual compensation to other people involved in making that work. These people include artistes, technicians and so on. In other climes, all these people are recognised in the area of CMO. It has been in our laws, but until COSON and the likes came, no one knew that even those other than the artistes ought to get something.  So, the other group of people that will benefit, aside the financial partners, are the people we call the creative collaborators like the directors, actors and writers. Actors, in this case, are the lead and supporting actors. You can’t possibly pay everyone. Only the people with significant contributions to the production will get something from what gets to the financial partners. So, AVRS will take care of the financial partners and the creative collaborators,” he said.

    Although the licence took about nine months to come, Akpan said it was to ensure that AVRS met all requirements. “It was a painstaking process of verification and assessment, before the commission came to the conclusion that AVRS has complied with all relevant statutory requirements, under the Copyright Act, cap C28, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004 and the Copyright (CMO Regulations) 2007.