Admin l Thursday, February 15, 2018
LAGOS, Nigeria – In keeping with its pledge, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) has filed a Notice of Appeal in the judgement delivered by Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/1259/2017 brought by COSON against MCSN, the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) and the Attorney- General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami.
The Notice of Appeal was filed by Intellectual Property lawyer, Mr. Justin Ige of Lagos law firm, Creative Legal, today, February 15. This is barely 48 hours after the judgment was finally delivered after about 2 months during which the case file was taken from the judge resulting in massive demonstrations by music industry stakeholders across the country.
COSON Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji had said in court after the judgment, “If the judgment was not delivered when it was, we may have had to start the matter all over again. With the judgment, we now have a throve of materials to immediately and vigorously take the matter out of the Federal High Court system to the Court of Appeal where the issues can be properly argued.
“Everyone knows that our objective was never judgement but justice. We are not naïve. I have been through this several times before. This is a marathon and not a dash. After many weeks of arm-twisting, high level manipulation and blackmail, we knew that quite a bit of water would have passed under the bridge when the case file was returned to the judge. We have been prepared for every outcome. Regardless of what Justice Buba has decided, we will not go to sleep.
“We will not go to sleep until we stop the attempt to turn the Nigerian music industry into a gold mine belonging to no one, from where those who have made no investments nor contributions can cart away illicit billions while the true creators and investors languish in penury. Let the whole world know that we will not rest until the Malami MCSN Mafia (MMM), is finally banished from our industry, and peace, stability and progress are restored”
We are immediately going to the Court of Appeal on this matter. Our protest will continue. We will not sleep, we will not slumber. There will be no retreat and no surrender. I am a thorough bred copyright man and I understand the issues. They are very simple. I have 100% confidence that at the end of the day, we will get justice and the Nigerian music industry will be much better for it.”
