The Director General of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Dr. John Asein, has said it is important for every university to have an Intellectual Property (IP) policy to protect their innovative and creative works.
Asein said this in a presentation on the revised Model Intellectual Property (IP) policy to the General Assembly of the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU) in Abuja.
The NCC boss said the model policy, which was developed by the commission in collaboration with the CVCNU in 2021, was reissued as part of the commission’s renewed effort to promote its adoption and implementation.
He praised the immediate past Secretary General of CVCNU for supporting the initiative and working with the NCC to promote the sustainable use and effective management of IP in Nigerian universities.
Asein advised tertiary institutions, as centres of learning and research, to introduce their faculties and students to the subject of intellectual property in line with global trends and to make Nigerian universities globally competitive.
The NCC boss assured vice chancellors of the commission’s readiness to help in the development and implementation of the policy.
“The commission will work with other agencies, including the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), to begin the intellectual property ranking of universities and celebrate those that excel in the respect, generation, use and commercialisation of IP,” he said.
Commenting on the WIPO’s Distance Learning (DL) courses on IP, Asein urged universities to infuse the WIPO DL 101 course, which is available free online, into the General Studies course to give students basic knowledge of IP and equip them in their courses.
Receiving the copies of the model policy on behalf of other vice chancellors, CVCNU chairman and Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Prof. Lilian Salami, lauded the collaboration of the commission with AVCNU in developing the model IP policy.
He assured Asein of CVCNU’s continued commitment to working with the commission, particularly in promoting better IP culture in universities.
The model IP policy was developed with the help of a team of Nigerian experts and with the support of the Nigerian University Commission (NUC), the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), and the National Office of Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP).
