Undergraduate Students' Perception of Copyright Infringement: A Case Study of the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

Introduction Learning involves mental processes, acquisition of some skills and competencies which must be relatively permanent within the cognitive abilities of the learners. These skills may be acquired in a formal learning environment or an informal learning environment. The later explains a situation in which people acquire knowledge through direct and indirect contact with various forms of mass media, like newspapers, television, radio, etc. Oje and Babalola (2000), defined learning as the mental activity by which knowledge and skills, habits and attitudes, virtues and ideas are acquired, retained and utilized, resulting in the progressive adaptation and modification of conduct and behaviour. It is important to note here that this process of learning is usually enhanced through the various learning resources used by undergraduate students in higher institutions of learning. Learning resources according to Oje and Babalola (1999) are information, represented and stored in variety of media and format, that assist students' learning as defined by provincial or local curricula, this includes but is not limited to materials in print, video and software formats. These learning resources are usually made available for access to the learners in the library; hence the library is usually referred to as a storehouse of information. Muazu'tt (1987) in Apotiade (2002) defined a library as a repository of knowledge or an intellectual storehouse serving as giant memory to mankind" A library could is a social institution concerned with the collection, processing, storage and dissemination of recorded information for the purpose of reading, study and consultation; in order to satisfy the varying information needs of its clientele. (Aina, 2004) Undergraduate students need information to improve their social, economic and political experiences and this information is best retrieved from the libraries. Kargbo (2002) noted that libraries are derivative agencies. They arise from particular needs within a society and their types and functions reflect the diversity within the society. Hence we can say that libraries are institutions that assist its user in deriving and accessing various information. Teaching, as defined by Abolade (1986) in Oje (2000), is the process of imparting knowledge or encoding information so that the decoder may be able to modify his behaviour. Teaching and learning resources available to users and the teachers could be in various formats like print, audio, visual, audiovisual, electronic, e.t. c. , but the most commonly used learning resources by undergraduate students in the University of Ibadan is the print form. It is also very necessary that the intellectual contents of these learning resources be protected from being infringed on by users and this can only be achieved through the implementation of copyright. There can be no issue of copyright if the learning resources are not being utilized; infringement therefore occurs in the process of using learning. The object of the protection of the "intellectual content or creativity" is a right conferred by law on an individual or legal entity in respect of the product of his or her intellect, guaranteeing the exclusive right to control the exploration of the work. The protection of the intellectual content of the different aspects of an authors work helps to promote creativity and improves the economy in the long run. The Concept of Copyright Copyright can be defined as a set of exclusive rights granted by government for a limited time to protect the particular form, way or manner in which an idea or information is expressed. Copyright may subsist in a wide range of creative or artistic form or "works"; including literary works, movies, musical works, sound recordings, paintings, photographs, software and industrial designs. Copyright laws simply explain the legal protection given to authors against unauthorised copying of their work. …