The Copyright Society of Ghana (COSGA) has challenged members of the Ghana Hotels Association to seek legal redress over new tariffs issued by COSGA, if they are unsatisfied. The Ghana Hotels Association is up in arms against COSGA for what they describe as a sharp increment in the tariffs being charged for the use of songs and movies in their hotels. The Association also claims the new tariffs were arbitrarily imposed on them as they was no negotiation on the matter. The Financial Secretary of the Association, Mr. Philip Ntiamoah told Adom Business Report the Association had proposed paying GH¢ 25 instead of the GH¢ 50 being charged now but several attempts to negotiate for the reduction of the tariffs have been unsuccessful. He said “considering the current inflation trend, the only option left for the association is to seek legal action, for the reduction of the rates.” Mr. Ntiamoah added that beside COSGA tariffs, the hotels had to also pay other tariffs such as the TV license, Value Added Tax, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly dues among others. “In view of this, COSGA should not just use percentages to increase the rates, but consider the current inflation trend”, he stated. But a member of the Interim Copyright Management Team, Carlos Sakyi dismissed claims that COSGA failed to negotiate with the Hotels Association before fixing the 2011 tariffs. Reacting to threats by the Ghana Hotels Association to take legal action against COSGA for charging exorbitant tariffs, Mr. Sakyi told Adom Business Report that the new tariff is reasonable considering the regularity with which the hotels use other people’s property such as music, videos and movies in the enhancement of their services. He insisted that COSGA will not review the new tariffs, explaining that hotels which had one to ten rooms used to pay GH¢ 5 per year but COSGA had increased it to GH¢ 50, a 500 percent increase he described as normal since members of the Progressive Hoteliers Association have even agreed to pay. According to him, “COSGA is not under any obligation to enter into an agreement with any association since they are not users.” Mr. Sakyi stated that members of the Association who are uncomfortable with the tariffs must immediately desist from using anybody’s song or movies until the matter is fully resolved. Story by Afia Akyere/Adom News/Ghana