Funke Busari, Lagos
A book merchant, Mr. Chinonso Ugochukwu, has bagged one year imprisonment for pirating the Holy Bible and other books.
The convict was handed down the judgement by Justice F. O. Riman of the Federal High Court, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
Ugochukwu was found guilty of two-count charge bordering “on pirating, being in possession and offering for sale, 578 copies of various literary works including the Holy Bible (Revised Standard Version).”
The offence contravenes Section 20(2)(c) of the Copyright Act, Cap C28, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria and attracts one year imprisonment.
Testified against the convict, a prosecuting witness Martins Umoh with Nigeria Copyright Commission,NCC, explained to the court that the commission received complaints from copyright owners including the Bible Society of Nigeria alleging that their literary works were being pirated. As a result, they embarked on a search in several local government areas of the state.
He said it was during the search that several copies of pirated literary works were found in Ugochukwu’s shop located at No 17 Grace Bill Road, Eket.
During the trial, an officer of the Bible Society of Nigeria, Oluwafemi Akindele, informed the court that his office translates the Holy Bible, typesets it and sourced for funds to publish it.
Giving insight as to how the convict ran into troubled waters, Akindele said they noticed that the products were everywhere in the market and yet it never reflected in its official Bible distribution figures.
This development led to the observation that most of the products in the market were pirated copies and made formal complaint to NCC which led to the arrest, prosecution and conviction of Ugochukwu.
The presiding judge however gave the convict an option of N30,000 fine and to compulsorily forfeit the recovered materials to the federal government.
