As part of its efforts to educate stakeholders on the copyright sector on it operations and laws governing the sector, the Copyright Office has organised a workshop under the theme, “The Role of Copyright In National Development” for stakeholders in Takoradi.

Participants were drawn from the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), cassette distributors association, police service, Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), Immigration Service, the Media, the Judiciary, Centre for National Culture, (CNC), Music Producers Association among others.

Some of the topics discussed include the development of copyright protection in Ghana, the overview of the copyright industry, copyright owners and collective management of copyright and a host of others.

Presenting a paper under the topic “The Development of Copyright Protection in Ghana, the copyright administrator, Bernard K. Bosumprah, said in the past the public education activities of copyright office were concentrated in Accra and Kumasi.

According him his outfit has restructured itself to extend its educational programmes to all the ten regions in the country, adding “under the new copyright law, Copyright Act 690, it was the duty of the copyright office to educate the right holders, users and the general public on the law.

The copyright administrator, who traced the historic evolution of copyright protection in Ghana, said the first Copyright Legislation of the country could be trace to 1911, and was made in UK, applicable to all British Colonies.

In 1961 the law had some provisions of the creator and 25 years after his or her death. The 1961 law had some provisions on economic rights, but the provisition were not adequate or comprehensive, and there was nothing like collective administration of copyright in the 1961 law.

Mr Bosumprah said under the 1961 law, musical works were freely copied and copyright was more or less a one-man schedule in the Ministry of Information. There were agitations from musicians in the 1970s which put pressure on the ruling regions at the time and that led to the passage of PNDC Law 110 in 1985.

He stated that PNDC Law 110 actually made provision for the following, setting up of a permanent copyright office, making provision for the appointment of a copyright administrator and staff and the setting up of collective societies such as COSGA.

The copyright administrator indicated that in 1990, certain weaknesses became apparent in the PNDC Law 110. Among them were that, technology was catching up with copyright creators, the penalty of ¢ 1 million or 2 years imprisonment or both for copyright infringement were no more deterrent enough and there was no provision on the protection of work on the internet.

These, he said were weaknesses among other led to the passage of the copyright Act 690 in 2005 which took care of the weaknesses in PNDC Law 110.

On his part the executive director of the copyright society of Ghana (COSGA) J.K Larkai, who presented a paper on the current legal framework, spoke on the importation of the security device which helps to reduce the level of piracy in the country.

He noted that without the use of the security device, many creative works are pirated. He cited an example of Kojo Antwi who did a recording outside the country, but the work was on the Ghanaian market before he even arrived at the Kotoka International Airport.

He also touched on the importance of performers who facilities the creation of the copyright work before it comes out for public consumption.

Their economic and moral rights are protected in the law.
On folklore, he explained that people are allowed to use the works of folklore in teaching, research, recreation, funeral activities, but if the purpose is for commercializing folklore in its raw state, the user would be required to pay some royalties.

Source: Daily Guide