Alleged copyright infringement: Court dismisses coys suit against FG

A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit filed by Pan African Development Corporate Company Ltd. against the Federal Government to demand N2 trillion in damages over alleged copyright infringement.

Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a ruling, dismissed the suit on the ground that the suit was statute barred.

Justice Ekwo held that the suit was instituted after the period allowed by the Public Officers Protection Act (POPA), 2004 had lapsed.

“The yardsticks to determine whether an action is statute barred are the date when the cause of action accrued, the date of commencement of the suit as indicated in the writ of summons and period of time prescribed to bringing an action to be ascertained from the statute in question,” he said.

The judge said he found that the cause of action in the case accrued on June 22, 2021 when the plaintiffs claimed that they found out that former President Muhammadu Buhari had inaugurated a steering committee on poverty reduction by establishing Private Equity Fund.

“However, the plaintiffs waited till April 19, 2023 before commencing this action.

“This means that this action was not commenced within three months stipulated by law.

“As the saying goes, equity protects and aids the vigilant and does not aid the indolent or layabout,” he said.

According to Justice Ekwo, it is a basic principle of law that limitation Law or Act removes the right of action, the right of enforcement and the right to judicial relief and leaves the plaintiff with a bare and empty cause of action, which he cannot enforce.

He stressed that where the law provides for the bringing of an action within a prescribed period in respect of a cause of action, it must be brought within that time frame.

He said: “Proceeding shall not be brought after the time prescribed by such statute.

“As it is, I find that the right of action of the plaintiffs has been extinguished by virtue of the statute bar in Section 2 (a) of the POPA, 2004 and I so hold.”

Citing previous Supreme Court decision, the judge said: “where a preliminary objection succeeds, there will be no need to go further to consider arguments in support of other issue or issues for determination.

“This matter therefore ends here. I have already found that this matter is statute barred.

“I therefore make an order dismissing this action for being initiated outside the time prescribed by law.

“This is the Order of this court.”

Although the judgment was delivered on Monday, its certified true copy (CTC) was made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday.

The plaintiffs; Pan African Development Corporate Company Ltd. and Odilim Enwebgara had, through their lawyer, C.P. Aninwoya, filed the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/ CS/529/2023 before ex-President Buhari left office.

In the suit, they sued President, Federal Republic of Nigeria; Federal Republic of Nigeria; National Steering Committee of the National Poverty Reduction With Growth Strategy; Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) as 1st to 4th defendants respectively.

They also joined the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment; Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment; Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); and CBN as 1st to 8th defendants as 5th to 8th defendants.

In the writ of summons filed on April 19, 2023, they sought 12 reliefs, including a declaration that the acts of the minister of Industry and the ministry in proposing, sharing or presenting to the ex-President and the Nigeria “claimants’ copyrighted Information/proposal titled: “PROPOSAL TO THE MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY, TRADE AND INVESTMENT ON “THE EQUITY INVESTMENT BANK OF NIG” and/or adaptation of same by the 5th and 6th defendants before presentation to the 1st and 2nd defendants without the consent or authority of the claimants, constitute Infringement of the claimants’ copyright guaranteed under the Copyright Act.”

They, therefore, sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining all the defendants and their agents from further infringing on the claimants’ copyright pertaining to the claimants’ copyrighted “PROPOSAL TO THE MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY, TRADE AND INVESTMENT ON “THE EQUITY INVESTMENT BANK OF NIG.”

They also sought an order for delivery up to the claimants all copies of publications and materials regarding the NIGERIA INVESTMENT AND GROWTH FUND that infringed on the claimants’ copyrighted proposal to the ministry.

The plaintiffs further sought an order compelling the CBN and governor to process and grant the claimants’ application for license to establish Equity Investment Bank of Nigeria upon fulfilment of necessary conditions as required by law.

They sought “the sum of one trillion naira as compensation for compulsory acquisition of the claimants’ intellectual property over and pertaining to claimants’ proposal” to the minister and “general damages in the sum of one trillion naira,” among others

But CBN and its governor (7th and 8th defendants), in a preliminary objection dated Aug. 10, 2023, sought an order striking out the suit.

They argued that the action was statute barred and hence fundamentally incompetent going by POPA, 2024.

Besides, they said the suit was a gross abuse of judicial process and that the claimants’ case does not disclose reasonable cause of action against them.

Delivering the ruling, Justice Ekwo upheld the arguments of the CBN and its governor that the action was statute barred.