Section 31 Copyright Act

Section 31 Copyright Act 2022 is about Compulsory licence to produce and publish translations. It is under Part III (Ownership, Transfers and Licences) of the Act.

(1) Any qualified person may, for the purposes of teaching, scholarship or research, apply to the Commission for a licence to produce and publish a translation of a literary work, which has been published in printed or analogous forms of reproduction.

(2) An application under this section shall be made in the prescribed form and shall state the proposed retail price of a copy of the translation of the work.

(3) An applicant for a licence under this section shall pay such fee as may be prescribed by the Commission.

(4) Where an application is made to the Commission under this section, the Commission may grant to the applicant a non-exclusive licence to produce and publish a translation of the work in the language mentioned in the application subject to the conditions that —

(a) the applicant shall pay to the owner of the copyright in the work, royalties in respect of copies of the translation of the work produced, calculated at such rate as the Commission may, in the circumstances of
each case determine and consistent with the standards for licences freely negotiated between persons in Nigeria and owners of translation rights in their country ;
(b) the licence shall not extend to the export of copies of the translation of the work outside Nigeria ; and
(c) every copy of such translation shall contain a notice in the language of the translation that the copy is available for distribution only in Nigeria.

(5) Subsection (4) shall not apply to export by Government or any of its agencies, of copies of such translation in a language other than English to any country, if such copies are —
(a) sent to citizens of Nigeria residing outside Nigeria or to any association of such citizens outside Nigeria ; or
(b) meant to be used for purposes of teaching, scholarship or research and the government of the country to which the copies are exported agree to receive or distribute the copies.

(6) A licence shall not be granted by the Commission under this section until the expiration of —
(a) one year from the date of first publication of the work, where the application is for a licence for translation into any language spoken in Nigeria other than English ; or
(b) three years from the date of first publication of the work, where the
application is for a licence for translation into English.

(7) A licence shall not be granted by the Commission, except —
(a) the Commission is satisfied that no translation of the work into the language in question has been published in printed or analogous forms of reproduction, by or with the permission of the owner of the right of translation or that all previous editions in that language are out of print ;

(b) the applicant has proved to the satisfaction of the Commission that he had requested and had been denied permission by the owner of the copyright to produce and publish such translation or that he was, after due diligence on his part, unable to find such owner ;
(c) where the applicant after due diligence on his part, was unable to find the owner of the copyright and that he had sent a request for permission to the publisher whose name appears on the work, not less than two months before applying for the licence ;

(d) the applicant had at the time he submitted an application under this section informed any national or international information centre designated for this purpose by the government of the country in which
the publisher of the work to be translated is believed to have his principal place of business ;

(e) the Commission is satisfied that the applicant is competent to produce and publish a correct translation of the work and possesses the means to pay to the owner of the copyright the royalties required to be paid to him under this Act ;
(f) a period of six months, in the case of an application for a licence for translation into English or nine months in the case of an application for a licence for translation into any other language spoken in Nigeria has lapsed from the date of making the request under subsection (1)(b) ;

(g) where a request has been sent under subsection (1)(c), a period of six months has lapsed from the date of sending the request and the translation of the work in the language mentioned in the application has not been published by the owner of the copyright in the work or any person authorised by him within a period of nine months ;
(h) the name of the author and the title of the particular edition of the work proposed to be translated are printed on all copies of the translation ;

(i) where the work is composed mainly of illustrations, the provisions of section 6 of this Act are complied with ;
(j) the author has not withdrawn copies of the work from circulation ; and
(k) an opportunity of being heard is given by the Commission, wherever practicable, to the owner of the copyright in the work.

(8) The Commission may withdraw the licence granted under this section where the circumstance that led to its grant has ceased to exist.