My team recovered 821 pirated books from defendant’s house – Witness tells court
Mr Babatunde Oladapo, a law enforcement officer with the Nigeria Copyright Commission (NCC) told a Federal High Court in Ibadan that he recovered 821 fake textbooks from the residence of Olumide Ayeni, 44, a book seller.
Oladapo, the PW1 was testifying before Justice Uche Agomoh in an alleged case of copyright infringement instituted by the NCC against Ayeni.
“On Sept. 30 2019, I led a team to Ayeni’s shop after we received intelligence report that he was secretly reproducing other people’s intellectual works for personal gains.
“However, Ayeni’s sales representative, took us to his house where we saw 821 textbooks belonging to publishers like Mackmillian, Learn Africa, Evans, and lots more.
“We invited him to our office where he admitted the crime and signed a statement of his involvement.
“We equally invited the various publishers who identified their books and showed us why the 821 textbooks were fake,” Oladapo said.
The Prosecution Counsel, Adeola Olatayo, tendered the statement written by Ayeni as well as the inventory form he signed as exhibits against him.
Olatayo also tendered seven bags containing the 821 textbooks recovered from thee defendant’s residential store as exhibits.
The prosecution further said that the defendant pirated copies of secondary school textbooks in subjects like mathematics, English language, quantitative and sciences.
According to the prosecutor, Ayeni who lives at Orita-Challenge area in Ibadan is charged with unlawful sale and possession of pirated books.
She stated that the offence contravened the provisions of section 20 (2A) and (B) of the Copyright Act 2004.
Justice Agomoh subsequently adjourned the suit until July 6 and July 6 for continuation of trial. (NAN)
