Piracy Of Some Copyrighted Information Materials Among Students Of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigates the practices of students of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Nigeria as it relates to th e piracy of information products in textbooks/journals, magazines/ newspapers, cassettes and CDs/DVDs, and their awareness of copyright laws. The data for the research was gathered through the use of questionnaire and focus group discussions. Three hundre d and sixty six out of five hundred copies of the questionnaire distributed were completed and returned giving a response rate of 73.2%. The study showed that 85.3% of the students had engaged in piracy of copyright protected copies of the information mate rials studied. The reported level of piracy was highest with books/ journals ( 84.2%) and lowest with magazines/ newspapers ( 45.6%). Those respondents that claimed awareness of the laws prohibiting distribution/sale of copyrighted materials were 80.9%, and th e major sources of knowledge were through broadcast channels, newspapers and schools in descending order of importance. The reasons identified for the infringements of copyright laws include the prohibitive cost of original copies; the unavailability of o riginal copies, easy accessibility to pirated copies in markets, and the inability to distinguish between pirated and original copies. The respondents that could mention at least one benefit of copyright protection was 232(63.4%) with an average correct re sponse of 1.4, while 36.6% respondents could not mention one correct answer. The paper concludes by making recommendations on how piracy could be curbed in Nigerian tertiary institutions by making information materials available at affordable prices and by the provision of adequate copies of most needed texts in the libraries. It also recommends public enlightenment campaign on the benefits of copyright protection to the promotion of creativity and socio economic development of the nation.

Key Words: piracy, books/journals, magazines/newspapers, cassettes, CDROMs/DVDs, copyright, laws.