Court awards N500,000,000.00(Five hundred million naira) damages and a perpetual injunction against Cross River State and the Calabar Carnival Commission for copyright infringement.
The Federal High Court sitting in Calabar has awarded N500,000,000.00 damages and a perpetual injunction in favor of the Copyright Society of Nigeria.
The Plaintiff had instituted the action for copyright infringement with respect to various musical works used without license at the Calabar Carnival over a period of time, asking for damages in the sum of N500,000,000.00 (Five hundred million naira) and a perpetual injunction restraining the Calabar Carnival from using any musical work without obtaining a license from COSON.
This is a milestone judgment and a great victory for the entertainment industry! We are gradually running past the era of disregard for intellectual property.
People who expend their time, energy and resources to create works should enjoy maximum benefits for their efforts.
Today the copyright Act comes alive!
A friend of mine was in court today when Justice Ekwo delivered this judgement, and he later took it up when he met with him privately in his chamber to clear a few miss givings regarding the judgement which the learned Jurist gladly offered him like a father that he is. It was a very sound judgement on so many levels.

Cc
Creative Legal