RE-CONCEPTUALIZING CYBER SECURITY LAWS IN NIGERIA TO ACCOMMODATE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS INFRINGEMENT ON THE INTERNET: ANY SPECIFIC ROLE FOR INTERNATIONAL TREATIES?

Abstract

This paper appraises cyber security laws in Nigeria. The paper finds that digital works create new forms of cybercrime which were not addressed by earlier legislation. The paper contends that the Budapest Convention and the latest WIPO Treaties ratified in 1996 and 2001 respectively have sufficient provisions for the protection of intellectual property rights on the Internet, and should be domesticated by Nigeria. The paper employs a legal research approach with the doctrinal research method. The necessity of establishing the accuracy of the findings on the unsuitability of the present cyber legislation for the protection of intellectual property rights on the internet in Nigeria is the justification for using the method. The paper recommends the domestication of recent international treaties and advocates the implementation of revised rules to checkmate infringements of intellectual property rights on the internet.