Letters and Comment
| Author | Baudelio Hernández |
| Position | Baudelio Hernández y Asociados (Attorneys at Law), Mexico |
The write-up on The Nollywood Phenomenon (Issue no. 3/2007) just scratches at what is going on in the film and video industry in Nigeria. It is a revolution, and a burgeoning industry in terms of the creativity, employment creation, economic empowerment, recreation, education, and even healing, that it provides to the people of Nigeria, Africa and the world at large. It is true that generally Nollywood operates on low budgets, but why use the word "ultra-low"? It is not bad given all the creativity and innovation employed in their work. The writer also did not expand on the fact that these films are now commanding attention across the globe from Africans in the Diaspora and even non-Africans.
It is also imperative to note that the world outside Africa talks and talks about piracy, but does little to fight the evil. Many countries in Africa are yet to realize the need to join forces with Nigeria's anti-piracy agencies, with the industry in Nigeria, and with other African film-producing countries, to fight the pandemic called piracy.
With the talents and resources that abound in Nollywood, it is only good that every necessary step be taken by government agencies, by world bodies like WIPO and WTO, and by powerful nations like the U.S.A, Britain and Germany, to assist Nollywood so that these talented human beings will begin to reap the rewards of their efforts in the way that their counterparts in Europe and America are able to.
From Edwin Nnametu, Editor, National Image Magazine, Nigeria
The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) read with great interest your article Talking to the Download Generation (Issue no. 2/2007). Understanding young people's perceptions about downloading is a critical step towards tackling online piracy. Only then can we design effective outreach campaigns and relevant educational programmes to promote greater respect towards IP rights online.
For this reason, IPOS recently commissioned a survey to investigate attitudes of Singaporeans aged 14-35 towards IP and IP rights protection. The students in your article, while well informed about copyright law, viewed downloading as a non-crime with no consequences. Similarly, our survey revealed that while 33 percent of the respondents thought...
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