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Intellectual creation occupies a prominent place within the economic, social and cultural development of each nation; the wellbeing of a country is also appreciated by its capacity to create, introduce, manage and exploit intellectual assets beyond its natural resources, its labour or capital. Protection of intellectual property rights is of particular importance because the essence, goal and purpose are to protect the product of human intelligence and at the same time to guarantee for the benefit of consumers the use of such produce.

The protection for copyright in foreign works in Nigeria has been a contentious and controversial issue for over three decades. In this case analysis, through a trilogy of cases, we trace the judicial trend and jurisprudence on this issue of copyright law. We argue that although Sec. 5 and Sec. 41 of the Nigerian Copyright Act provide two methods by which foreign works can receive protection under the Act, the courts have repeatedly declined to confer such protection. The most recent case on this issue, Voice Web International Limited v Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Ltd & Ors, provided an opportunity for the courts to lay the issue to rest; however, unfortunately, the courts again failed to do so. In this opinion, we critically examine the case and discuss the legislative history conferring protection to foreign works. We conclude that the correct statutory interpretation in determining the protection of foreign works is reciprocity, and this was satisfied in the case under review.

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