ASSESSMENT OF COPYRIGHT, FAIR DEALING AND THE USE OF MOBILE PHONES FOR ACCESS TO SUBSCRIBED LAW-DATABASES BY LAW STUDENTS IN ACADEMIC LAW LIBRARIES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Information is power and gives one the ability to take certain decisions that affects not only the decision maker but his loved ones and the society at large. Access to information is inherent in freedom of expression as guaranteed under the Nigerian Constitution. Information is often embedded or expressed in concrete forms either as literary, artistic, musical or dramatic works and is essential for the purpose of training of would-be legal practitioners in Nigeria. Through Law-databases, information resources are made available to law students in Nigeria for the purpose of research and learning. The content of law-databases is managed and made available to law students by the Law Librarian in Nigerian Universities and at the Nigerian Law School. Nonetheless, access to law-databases must be in consonance with the provisions of the Copyright Act, 2022 that provides for fairly dealing as far as access to information resources is concerned in Nigeria. This work uses the doctrinal approach to research in assessing the concepts of copyright, fair dealing and access to law-databases in Academic Law Libraries by law students in Nigerian universities. The work found that the legal framework for copyright and fairly dealing is fraught with lacuna which inhibits access to law-databases by law students. The work also found that there are other factors such as lack of expertise, under staffing and access to power supply which negatively impacts on how law students access information resources via law-database. The major recommendation made in the work is a call for legislative amendment especially the provision of Section 20 of the Copyright Act, 2022 and that other factors be put in place in order to safeguard the right of law students to access law-databases for effective legal training and future practice.