Copyright Commission warns against piracy, summons MD, Hashtronics Satellite

The Director of Enforcement, Nigerian Copy Right Commission, Mr. Augustine Alewo Amodu, has warned that the commission would spare no one caught in the act of piracy as new strategies to curtail the activities of Pirates across the country have been adopted to put an end to the menace.

Mr. Amodu made this known in Kano on Tuesday during a sensitisation and audit visit for stakeholders in the state.

According to him, Piracy, is a canker-worm that has eaten so deeply into the fabric of the nation’s economy, which has forced many legitimate business owners out of business, and has caused great loss to those who manage to survive, a trend he said the commission under the leadership of its Director General, Mr. Afam Ezekude is determined to check.

The enforcement team during its visit to Hashtronics Satellite Ltd. discovered that the broadcasting company engaged in illegal broadcasting using illegal decoders such as Canal Plus, Sky Sports, Bein Sports as well as Strong Decoders which give them conditional access to steal EPL, EUFA, and La Liga matches to their subscribers.

Mr. Amodu noted that the visit was prompted by a petition the commission received from Multi-Choice that Harstronics engages in rebroadcasting of its programmes without permission.

“We came here today to see for ourselves after a letter of complaint we received from Multi-choice that its exclusive right is being violated by Hashtronics.

“We have been to their broadcasting rooms and we have seen the illegal decoders they use to gain access to other people’s programmes.

“It’s unfortunate that the Manager, Mrs Glory Egharevbe was not able to provide us with any document from either NBC or Multi-Choice that grants them permission for their operations.

“We have served them a letter demanding that, the Managing Director reports to our Abuja office next Monday with all necessary documents to back his mode of operations, failure to do that, will leave us with no choice but to seal up the place”.

Furthermore, Mr. Amodu, said, the Commission would do all within its jurisdictions to protect creativity in the country, which is one of the president Muhammadu Buhari’s priority, that is, economy diversification and creating enabling environment for legitimate businesses to thrive.