Sabinus’ ‘Something Hooge’: A Question of Privacy Right, Image Right or Intellectual Property Right?

Abstract

The paper examines the trio concepts of privacy, publicity and intellectual property rights as they interplay in determining if there is recourse to the perceived right of a celebrity to protect what he believes to be undue exploitation of his creation by commercial entities to the latter’s economic advantage from the spectrum of a very interesting claim by Sabinus in 2022. The paper examines the extant positions of these three concepts of law and the relationship between them reflecting on the position of law in foreign jurisdiction. It observes that although there are convergent points, these concepts are independent of one another and may provide different protection for celebrities and creators to protect their creations. The paper also finds that even though the Nigerian courts recognises the need for the protection of publicity right under common law, it fails to recognise that the right has been available within the Nigerian legal system. The paper also finds that the current legal regime may be hostile to creators while recognising that there is also a need to balance the regime against illegitimate and gold-digging claims. The paper advocates for a recognition of image right to encourage protection of economic exploitation of publicity in Nigeria.