Title: Is summary trial of copyright crimes consistent with right to fair hearing?

Authors: Nkem Itanyi; Sylvester Ndubuisi Anya

Addresses: Department of Commercial and Corporate Law, Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Nigeria ' Department of International and Comparative Law, Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Nigeria

Abstract: Copyright is listed in the exclusive legislative list¹ in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)². Accordingly, relevant statutes vest original jurisdiction over copyright matters in the Federal High Court³. The Federal High Court Act provides that the Federal High Court should adopt summary trial in all criminal proceedings before it⁴. Thus, persons accused of criminal infringement of copyright are tried summarily at the Federal High Court. Meanwhile, Section 36(6)(a) and (b) of the Constitution guarantees the right of every person charged with a criminal offence to prompt and detailed information on the nature of the offence against him and the right to be given adequate time and facility for the preparation of his defence. This paper contends that summary trial of persons accused of copyright crimes at the Federal High Court is inconsistent with these constitutionally guaranteed rights to fair hearing. The paper recommends amendments to the law to enable the trial of copyright offences to be by information.

Keywords: copyright crime; summary trial; information; proof of evidence; court; right to fair hearing; Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; constitutional guarantee; copyright act.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPL.2017.087339

International Journal of Private Law, 2017 Vol.8 No.3/4, pp.219 - 236

Received: 24 Jun 2016
Accepted: 09 Feb 2017
Published online: 13 Oct 2017 *

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