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Regulatory Watch · Intellectual Property
Published 2026-05-18
Reporting and explanation are kept apart deliberately. The left pane is an account of what happened; the right is our reading of what it means.
What changed — reporting
The Copyright Act 2022 replaced the earlier copyright legislation, restating the law on protected works, ownership, exceptions and enforcement.
The Act addresses the digital environment more directly than its predecessor, including provisions relevant to online infringement and to the role of intermediaries.
What it means — our explanation
For businesses the practical significance is ownership and evidence. Copyright arises in ordinary business material - website copy, photographs, designs, software, training materials - and the question of who owns it is usually decided by whether anyone wrote it down.
The most common exposure is unglamorous: assets in use whose provenance nobody can establish, and commissioned work that was never assigned to the business that paid for it.
Attribution remains irrelevant to permission. Crediting a creator is good practice; it is not a licence.
The Act is in force. Consult the Nigerian Copyright Commission for current guidance on registration and enforcement procedures.
Considerations, not requirements. What actually applies depends on your circumstances.