Law &Steemit- Intellectual Property Rights vis -a-vis Steemit Part 1

Since it is season of love, there have been several contests which have generated several postings, it is necessary to know that these postings are legally protected by some rights. I shall be discussing some of these protections.

Let's go legal everyone!!!!🙌🙌

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I am certain that most of us on this platform are aware of what intellectual property rights are, however, for the sake of non-lawyers, this post of mine is to educate all on the insection between IPRs and steemit.

INTRODUCTION
Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs and symbols, nanes and images used in commerce. They give the owners rights from which to exploit their intellectual creation.
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The rationale behind the granting of these rights is to allow holders of such rights enjoy the fruits of their labour especially where some intellectual effort has been expended. IPRs include Copyright, Patents, Trademarks,and Industrial Designs. IPRs are protected by law. For instance, in Nigeria, we have the Copyright Act, the Patent Act, Trademarks Act etc.

On the other hand, Steemit is a blogging and social networking website on top of the steem blockchain database. The steem blockchain produces steem and steem dollars which are tradeable tokens users obtain for postings, discovering and commenting on interesting contents.

In view of all these, for the purpose of this discourse, I shall be examing the intersection or the role Copyright plays in steem blogging.

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WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?
Copyright refers to the right of a creator of a work to do certain things with his work to the exclusion of all others. It does not confer rights in ideas but in the expression of such ideas, that is, how the idea is aesthestically expressed.

Under Section 1(1) of the Nigerian copyright Act, there are some works eligible for copyright protection, they are literary, artistic, musical works and sound recordings. However, there are requirements to be met for these works to be eligible for protection as provided in Section 1(2)(a)&(b):
A.) Originality- originality here does not mean novelty(newness of the idea) , rather it means that sufficient effort has been expended on the work to give it an original character. There should however be some evidence of industry and knowlege, not some form of copying-- FIEST PUBLICATION v RURAL TELEPHONE SERVICE COMPANY
B.) Fixation- the work must be fixed in a definite mechanism of expression. It could be in written form(manuscripts) or fixed with the aid of a device or machine(phones and computers).
C.) Connection with Nigeria- the work must be owned by a citizen of Nigeria or person domiciled in Nigeria for the right to subsist.

RIGHTS CONFERRED ON CREATORS

1. Economic rights which allows right holders to derive financial remuneration from the use of their works.
2. Moral rights which allows right holders the right of attribution ( acknowledgement) and also right to preserve the integrity of the work by objecting to any form of mutilation, alteration or distortion that is prejudiced to the author's reputation.

INFRINGEMENT occurs when anyone who is not the owner of copyright, not having obtained permission/licence does any act reserved for the owner such as reproduction, distribution or making adaptations of the work. - OKEDIJI v OSANYIN

REMEDIES available include damages, account for profits, injunctions and others as contained in Section 16 of the Act.

THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN COPYRIGHT AND STEEMIT
Flowing from the principle above, it is obvious that steemit is all about posting quality writeups, artistic works, literary works, sounding recordings and copyright subsists in all as long as the requirements can be established even if not not registered with Nigerian Copyright Commission.

Creators of copyrighted works on steemit enjoy economic benefits for their quality posts and also enjoy the right to be attibruted alongside with the work. It therefore behoves on anyone who wants to make use of such work to obtain the creator's permission.

Notwithstanding, copyright on steemit goes beyond just posting and commenting, a steemian may compile his works for proper publication and for better economic value. For instance:

@surpassinggoogle, can make all his inspiring writeups into a single document, as he owns the copyright to all his works.

@fisteganos and @phait, they could make a compilation of their poems for publication because their works enjoy copyright protection.

@tojukaka and @mosunmotunde, their stories could be properly fixed into a novel for the consumption of the public and any steemian who wishes to make adaptations of their novels (i.e make into a movie) would therefore need their permission to do so.

@thelovejunkie, she could turn in all her writeups to a publishing firm to make into an inspirational book to help the singles and the married.

The list is endless.

CONCLUSION
It is imperative to know that law cuts across all spheres of life including steemit. It is necessary for you to know that you have some rights that are personal to you as it relates to your posting/ blogging on steemit. That is why you don't get upvotes from all our "whales" if your post is not properly referenced.

Anyway, when you see someone plagiarizing your work on steem, (in the legal parlance)
Dont just get angry, sue the bastard....😝😝😹

Thanks to all who have inspired and encouraged me to keep steeming, @fisteganos, @gee1, @phait, @mosunmotunde, @tojukaka @thelovejunkie,@maxdevalue, @hr1, so sorry if i missed out some names, you guys are so dear to my heart.

I remain your girl @omoseni, bringing steemit to you from the legal perspective.

Thanks in anticipation for the upvotes, comments and resteem. Do have a stress-free day😘😘

Watch out for the Part II on IPRs vis-a-vis steemit