Register intellectual property to avoid theft —Gbenga Adeyinka

One of Nigeria’s A-list comedians, Gbenga Adeyinka, has urged entertainers in the industry to register their ideas, songs, videos and other intellectual properties with the copyright commission to avoid theft and rancour amongst industry mates.

 He made the call in a close session with Saturday Tribune at a press conference held during the week at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja, following the multiple cases of song thefts recorded in the music industry.

Mr Adeyinka noted that the copyright breach in the industry was as a result of lack of awareness to available safety measures for copyright protection in the country. The comedian who also stated that the copyright act  infringement was not peculiar to entertainers in the music and movie industry, maintains that comedians are also guilty of the same crime.

He enjoined those who use other people’s ideas and songs to always acknowledge source where necessary.

I will say in Yoruba, ‘nko ti a ba fi sile la’aja n gbe’. I can’t sing Konkonbilo. I can’t go to the studio to sing Emergency. Everybody knows it is a Dbanj song. I think this is a call for us to do the right thing. Let’s try to register our works. Let’s have copyright for our songs, videos and intellectual properties,” he said, “you will discover,” he continued, “that it is not expensive to get your songs and ideas registered. It doesn’t cost over N1000 or N2000 to register your work with the copyright commission. I have done that myself.”

“Yes. Comedians also steal comedies. The truth is you cannot thrive only on your jokes. Sometimes, we are bound to borrow materials from others. What I do and what I want to encourage others to do is to try to acknowledge your source. Bros, e no hard na. Make we stop all the fighting and hating”

The founder of Lafftamatazz, the TV comedy show, however, blamed the New Year controversies as entertainers’ desperate move for attention.

“For me, I think this is part of the New Year hype. Everybody wants to be in the news. I think we can be in the news for something better,” he said.