Viral Videos and Restrained Rights : Intellectual Property Issues Arising From Fast-Spreading Videos on Social Media

Due to the rise in the use of mobile phones and their functionality, especially while leveraging on internet facilities and social media platforms, we are witnessing the making and circulation of all sorts of videos at an unprecedented speed. These videos, sometimes shot accidentally or for reasons unconnected with a display of creativity, are embodiments of intellectual property rights, which are sometimes not concentrated in an individual for any such video. But upon making their ways to social media platforms, these rights often become neglected or muddled up in the raid of clicks, shares, downloads and the faceless world of the internet. It is in the light of this that this paper seeks to examine the various intellectual property law issues, under Nigerian law, surrounding the ownership and enforcement of intellectual property rights in viral videos