This paper discusses the regulation of copyright collective management organisations (CMOs) from a corporate governance perspective. In the case of Nigeria, CMOs have ‘dual personality’ and are subject to a dual regulatory framework: they are companies registered under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) and they are also collecting societies registered pursuant to the CMO Regulations. As companies, they are legal entities with all the rights of natural persons including the right to sue and be sued and their affairs are governed and managed by their directors and officers under the regulatory framework of the CAMA. As collecting societies, part of the requirements for the issuance of licences to operate their core business of negotiation of licences and collection and distribution of for the copyright sector, the NCC, under the CMO Regulations and adherence to principles of good governance. The legal features and underpinnings of this ‘dual persona’, although somewhat similar, are distinct enough to warrant separate analyses.
This paper addresses one ambit of this ‘dual persona’ – the implications of collecting societies as companies under the copyright framework – specifically, the effectiveness of the powers of the copyright sector regulator – Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) under the CMO Regulations in the regulation of the corporate governance of collecting societies. The paper considers the effectiveness of the powers of the NCC under the CMO Regulations in addressing the problems or incidences of poor corporate governance of CMOs in Nigeria. In doing so, it draws on approaches from South Africa and Australia.
The full paper is available here.
