The Need to Imbibe Fair Use Doctrine on Illustrations among Graphic Artists in Nigeria

Authors

  • Dr. Frank UTI

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47604/ijts.1477

Keywords:

Fair Use, Copyright Laws, Artist, Illustrations and Originality.

Abstract

This study in it's opinion looks at the Nigerian graphic artists and their copies attitude of illustrations, downloaded from the internet or copied from magazines. Which come in total disregard to the doctrines of fair use. Fair use tries in its entirety to strike appropriate balance between authors and publishers on one hand and users and consumers at the other. Fair use considers four weighing balance, which are, nature of these use, nature of the work, extent of use and its economic effect. These the Nigerian graphic artist does not consider. This inconsideration may be coming from uncertainties of the artists, publishers, and users on criticisms of the fair use doctrine, that fair use was amouphous vague and difficult to apply. The intellectual property of the first author must not be taken for granted, this spells out originality. However, the dual-grant theory as proposed by Bell and Pernhomysky, (2016), see's the limitation of the author and the limitless users, the public; that the author must be encouraged to do more, by profiting in his work, and there should efficient use of work by users. They write that as more rights are given to users, the more it curbs the right of authors. By simple observation it has been noticed that most Nigerian graphic artist do not care about the authors and therefore, we find copied illustration on posters, flex banners and sometimes on billboards on streets in Nigeria. This must be brought to note and policy makers should take steps to avert this copious attitude that might lead to litigations. From these submissions, it was recommended that teachers should insist on where or how illustrations are generated, copied illustration must be acknowledge and seminars, workshops must organized for all lecturers and graphic artist.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Akpotaire, U. (2013). Some basic facts about copyright in Nigeria. Retrieved from http://nlipw.com/some-basic-facts-about-copyright-in-nigeria/

Bell, A. and Parchomovsky, G. (2016). The dual-grant theory of fair use. Faculty of scholarship at Penn. Law. 1594. University of Chicago law Review. Vol. 83, No. 3. https://schlarshiplaw.upem.edu/faculty.scholarship/1594

Boston College Libraries. (2017). Fair use - copyright and scholarship. Retrieved from https://libguides.bc.edu/copyright/fairuse

Bryant, J. (2017). The defense of fair dealing in Nigerian copyright law: Tradeoffs between owner and user. Retrieved from http://johnsonbryant.com/the-defence-of-fair--dealing-in-nigerian-copyright-law-tradeoffs-between-owner-and-user/

Howard, B. A. (1992). Originality and creativity in copyright law.

Retrieved from http://scholaship.law.duke.edu/lcp/vol55/iss2/2/

Jaszi, P. & Aufdeide, P. (2010). Code of best practices in fair use for scholarly research in communication. Retrieved from http://cmsimpact.org/code/code-best-practices-fair-use-scholarly-research-communication/

LibGuides, MIT. (2014).Using images: Copyright and fair use: Retrieved from https://libguides.mit.edu/graphicdesign/copyrightandfairuseMeyer, R. (2015). After 10 years google books is legal. Retrieved from https:/www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/10/fair-use-trnaformative-leval-google-books/411058/

Okon, L. (2018). Poster: Save the Elephants. Not published

Patterson, L. R. (1992). Understanding fair use. Law and contemporary problems. Vol. 55. No. 2. Scholarshiplawduke.edu>cgi> https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/lcp/vol55/iss2/13

Ryan, T.(2015). The art of originality. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/3649884/theartoforiginality

Seoul Agenda (2010). Arts Education. Agenda: Goals for the Development of Arts Education. Seoul Agenda (2010). www.unesco.org.

http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CLT/CLT/pdf/Seoul_Agenda_EN.pdf

Shahshahani, S. (2015). The Nivana fallacy in fair use reform. 16.MNN.J.LSC.&Tech 273 (2015). https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/mj/st/vol.16/iss1/7

Stim, R. (2013). What is fair use? Copyright overview-Stanford copyright and fair use center.

Retrieved from http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fairuse/what-is-fair-use/

Stim, R. (2015). Measuring fair use: The four factors - copyright overview. Retrieved from http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/four-factors/

United Nations Charter (1948). Article 27/2: Universal declaration of human rights. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/

Downloads

Published

2021-12-30

How to Cite

UTI, F. . (2021). The Need to Imbibe Fair Use Doctrine on Illustrations among Graphic Artists in Nigeria. International Journal of Technology and Systems, 6(1), 36 – 48. https://doi.org/10.47604/ijts.1477

Issue

Section

Articles