“I am obviously very happy with the outcome of the case and it looks like I am not having to retire from my day job after all. But at the same time, I’m unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all.”

These were the words of popular English singer and songwriter Ed Sheeran after coming off victorious in a court battle between himself and the heirs of Marvin Gaye’s co-writer Ed Townsend, who had sued him, for copyright infringement, with the claim that the chord progression for Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’ was copied from  Marvin Gaye’s renown track, ‘Let’s Get it On.’ 

Ed Sheeran, who played his song Thinking Out Loud on a guitar before the jury while explaining his creative process in writing the song, also stated that he would quit music making if he was found guilty in the lawsuit. 

Keep in mind that the Gaye Estate was once involved in one of the biggest copyright infringement suits of all time in a case between Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and Marvin Gaye, where, in 2014, the estate of Marvin Gaye sued both Robin and Pharrell for copyright infringement over the song titled “Blurred Lines”.

The estate claimed that it was a copyright infringement on Gaye’s song, “Got to Give It Up”. The jury found them guilty of unlawfully copying “Got to Give It Up” and ordered the pair to pay Gaye’s family $5.3 million (which was reduced from the initial $7.3 million). The court also awarded the Gayes 50 percent of the song’s future royalties.

Here in Nigeria, let’s take a quick look at a few creative legal disputes musicians have had with themselves in the last few years.

In late March, gospel artist Mercy Chinwo, filed a suit against hip-hop artist Obidiz for defamation of character and unauthorized use of her name and image.

The artist in the song illustrated an example of a wayward, club girl, and mentioned Mercy Chinwo in the phrase.

“She dey share me the cake, but she no want commit. Mercy Chinwo for church, but for club na Cardi B sef.”

The suit by the gospel artist said Obidiz made “Derogatory and defamatory use of the name and image of Mercy Chinwo in secular music audio and video” and issued a “Notice to cease and desist.”

According to the document, Obidiz is to desist from further use of Mercy Chinwo’s name and image.

He is also to take down the song, and promotional videos and make a public apology. Failure to comply with these demands may attract a fine of N2,000,000,000.

In late 2022, Bukola Elemide, professionally known as Aṣa, reportedly issued a copyright infringement notice to Joseph Akinfenwa, aka Joeboy, over his recently-released song, “Contour.”

The France-based Nigerian singer demanded that Joeboy remove the song from all digital streaming platforms (DSPs) and other platforms, pay N300 million, and also issue a formal written apology within twenty-four (24) hours of receiving her letter.

According to the notice which was dated september 30, Asa claimed the single infringed on the copyright of a musical composition she created in a recording session on 22 September, with Tempoe in attendance at the said session.

Tempoe produced Joeboy’s ‘Contour’, and Asa claims the producer was also present in her recording sessions when he heard that sound and sampled it on ‘Contour’.

Joeboy posted this notice on his Instagram handle, although it was later deleted, but in responding to the suit he said: ““Cos I day always do love and light you think say I be soft meat. You said I have 24 hours, it’s been 48 hours, do something.”

Danfo Drivers, a music duo comprised of Mountain Black and Mad Melon (now deceased), accused Tekno of illegally sampling their song Kpolongo. Tekno’s 2018 single, Jogodo was the song on the receiving end of the accusation. The two sides met in Lagos in order to settle the issue. Following the meeting, Tekno posted a photo of the Danfo Drivers and himself on his Instagram page to demonstrate their amicable reconciliation. The details of the meeting were not made public at the time. Speaking with The PUNCH’s Saturday Beats in June 2018 the Nigerian musician, Professor Linkin, claimed he heard that Danfo Drivers were given N2 million as compensation, and that he’ll remain aggrieved until Tekno acknowledges him as the originator of the word “jogodo”.

The late highlife god Sir Victor Uwaifo accused Simi and Jaywon of remixing his timeless 1965 song Joromi without his consent in 2017. Naturally, he was alluding to the 2017 singles Jomi Joromi by the latter artist and the former’s Simisola album’s song of the same name. According to Uwaifo, who spoke to the Vanguard, he wouldn’t take the matter to court because “I’m like a father to them… let them make a living out of it, but at the same time it’s piracy.” Uwaifo’s claim was quickly refuted by Jaywon, who insisted that the song was not a remix as the veteran of the field had claimed.

It is impossible to talk about copyright violations in the Nigerian creative sector without bringing up the conflict between Blackface and 2face. The most interesting aspect of the beef is that both singers were once a part of Plantashun Boiz, a three-man band whose songs provided the soundtrack to the Nigerian nightlife in the early 2000s. Using Twitter in January 2016, Blackface accused his former teammate of copyright violations and claimed ownership of the songs Let Somebody Love You and African Queen. In response, 2face filed a libel lawsuit for N50 million. However, the case never went to court. In 2019, an out-of-court settlement was reached at the Ikeja High Court Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre. The agreement stipulated that Blackface would refrain from accusing 2face of plagiarism, and that 2face agreed to give Blackface his due royalties from the songs.

Copyright infringement in Nigeria is governed by the Copyright Act of 2004, which provides legal protection for creative works such as literary, musical, and artistic works, as well as cinematographic films, sound recordings, and broadcasts. The Act grants exclusive rights to copyright owners and outlines remedies for infringement.

Copyright protection in Nigeria arises automatically upon the creation of a work, and registration is not required. The copyright owner has the exclusive right to reproduce, publish, perform, or display their work.

The majority of copyright infringement claims, however, have not been resolved in court due to the unstructured nature of the Nigerian music industry. There is still little awareness and enlightenment in the industry among those involved, as well as measures artistes can take to avoid being caught up in such disputes. By the time they are fully enlightened, the affected copyright owners will be able to go to court to resolve their issues, which will serve as a model, rather than going to social media, where the case will not be resolved but will only be used for clout-chasing and eventually die down without any actual solution.