VZCZCXRO5197
PP RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHUJA #2508/01 3401136
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 061136Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY ABUJA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1599
INFO RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS PRIORITY 8383
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 002508 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/W, INR/AA 
DEPARTMENT PASS TO USTR (AGAMA) 
TREASURY FOR DPETERS 
USDOC FOR 3317/ITA/OA/KBURRESS 
USDOC FOR 3130/USFC/OIO/ANESA/DHARRIS 
USDOC FOR USPTO - JOHN KOEPPEN,PAUL SALMON 
USDOJ FOR MARIE-FLORE KOUAME 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON KIPR PGOV NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: INDUSTRY UNHAPPY WITH NCC DIRECTOR GENERAL 
 
REF: ABUJA 2436 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION OUTSIDE USG 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary.  Adebambo Adewopo, Director General of the 
Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), has received negative press 
reports in the local media and been subject to complaints from 
intellectual property (IP) rights experts regarding his tenure at 
the NCC.  Some of the reports against him can be traced to the 
ongoing battle between two rival collection societies, the 
Performing and Mechanical Rights Society (PMRS) and the Musical 
Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN).  According to the IFPI, the NCC 
is ill-equipped to enforce copyright protection and Director General 
Adewopo only pays lip service to copyright enforcement without 
taking the needed action to prosecute copyright offenders.  End 
Summary. 
. 
-------------------- 
MCSN, PMRS Imbroglio 
-------------------- 
. 
¶2. (U) The Performing and Mechanical Rights Society (PMRS) and the 
Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN) were licensed collecting 
societies responsible for collecting royalties on behalf of Nigerian 
musicians.  Both agencies had been in a long drawn out battle for 
supremacy and legitimacy.  The PMRS was licensed to collect 
royalties during the era when military governments ruled Nigeria, 
but the MCSN was also collecting royalties at the time without being 
licensed. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Adewopo has been involved with the MCSN for several years. 
The media alleges that Adewopo unilaterally licensed the MCSN to 
collect royalties before the NCC board was constituted in 2004. 
Before his appointment as Director General, Adewopo and his law 
firm, Laoye and Adewopo, represented MCSN and he personally appeared 
in court on MCSN's behalf.  Contacts and the media claim that the 
business relationship that exists between the firm, and MCSN is the 
reason why Adewopo granted MCSN approval as a collecting society 
when he became NCC DG. 
 
¶4. (SBU) After petitions were written to former President Obasanjo 
by IP stakeholders noting Adewopo's role with MCSN, he was suspended 
from office in 2005 because he did not follow due process in 
licensing MCSN.  The suspension ended in February 2006 and the 
President decreed that supervision of the NCC be moved from the 
Ministry of Culture and Tourism to the Ministry of Justice.  Several 
contacts have said that this move is unconstitutional, has not been 
approved by the National Assembly and is example of the previous 
administration's failure to the follow the constitution. 
 
¶5. (U) In September 2007, NCC withdrew the licenses of both MCSN and 
PMRS, declaring both collecting societies illegal. NCC stated that 
it would take necessary steps to approve collecting societies in due 
course. 
. 
------------------------------ 
IFPI DISAPPOINTED WITH ADEWOPO 
------------------------------ 
. 
¶6.  (SBU) On November 27 Embassy Economic Officers met with Akeem 
Aponmade and Willem Von Adrichem of the IFPI to discuss copyright 
protection in Nigeria.  Both Aponmade and Von Adrichem agreed that 
some progress has been made regarding conducting raids on the 
premises of alleged copyright offenders, and pointed to the Economic 
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as the agency best to work 
with.  Aponmade described positive collaboration with the IFPI and 
EFCC and said "the EFCC is more professional in doing its job." 
Regarding the NCC, both expressed reservations about the NCC's 
ability to carry out its statutory responsibility because it is 
ill-equipped and ill-prepared.  IFPI reported that attempts to 
provide funding support to NCC investigative activities have been 
unfruitful to due to questionable accounting practices at NCC. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The IFPI officials commented that though the Optical Disc 
Regulation has been recently passed, its implementation will be a 
major challenge for the NCC because the "NCC pays only lip service 
to copyright issues and doesn't take concrete steps or actions 
whenever it is required."  In their opinion, Adewopo prefers talking 
to the press about exaggerated achievements, rather than ensuring 
that copyright offenders are prosecuted and punished.  He can not be 
trusted to protect copyrights because the NCC has never obtained a 
 
ABUJA 00002508  002 OF 002 
 
 
judgment against any copyright offender. 
 
¶8. (SBU) IFPI reported that in a case involving Magnet, a compact 
disc replicating plant in Lagos, after the company was raided with 
the assistance of the EFCC in April 2007, a copy of the case file 
was passed to the NCC in May to prosecute.  NCC did nothing and 
waited until August to request an original copy of the case file 
from the EFCC.  At this time, IFPI reported that, the accused 
persons have yet to be arraigned in court. 
 
¶9. (SBU) The IFPI was also upset that the NCC lost evidence needed 
to prosecute Nasinma Industries, a Chinese owned factory that was 
producing pirated CDs and pornographic materials, following a raid 
in 2004.  The NCC claimed that it inadvertently destroyed the 
evidence along with some other counterfeit materials during a press 
event to trumpet their achievements.  The destruction of this 
evidence led to the dismissal of the case. 
. 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
. 
¶10. (SBU) The allegations against Director General Adewopo are 
serious.  Embassy contacts have also concurred with allegations of 
improprieties by Adewopo.  Media reports may be skewed against 
Adewopo because of the ongoing battle between PMRS and MCSN, his law 
firm's prominent role with MCSN, and his close ties to former 
President Obasanjo.  Professor E.S. Nwauche, Adewopo's predecessor 
and former Director General of the NCC, resigned his appointment at 
the NCC because of disagreements between PMRS and MCSN, which led to 
widespread protests on the streets of Lagos and Abuja led by the 
Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN). 
 
¶11. (SBU) It is difficult to determine whether the destruction of 
evidence in the Nasinma case was done intentionally or a result of 
incompetence.  NCC staff are poorly trained and often unable to do 
their jobs effectively.  The NCC is not adequately funded, and in 
2006 the it's budget was omitted from the Ministry of Justice budget 
submission. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Post in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice 
and U.S. Copyright Office recently conducted a seminar in Abuja with 
the NCC, EFCC and other GON agencies to improve skills (reftel). 
Following that training it was clear to the trainers that the NCC 
was not as well trained as the EFCC reps.  In addition, in the last 
year Post has sent a substantial number of NCC officers to the U.S. 
for training at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) 
training center.  Most times NCC staff, and staff of the Patents and 
Trademarks Office do not have funding for their return trip airfare 
to attend the training, and request to be fully funded by USPTO. 
This is common problem in the Nigerian public sector because only 
salaries and overhead fully funded, no provision is made for 
training. 
 
SANDERS