Protecting creative industry: Our copyright law must bite

All over the world copyright laws are enacted not only to protect creatives, but to also ensure that they have the sole right to their works and also enable them to benefit financially from their creative works by way of royalties.

Copyright laws are also promulgated to bring sanity into the creative industry, as well as to sustain, preserve and expand it.

Creative works include writings and book publications, poetry (literary works), drama (play), films (cinematographic works), photography, artworks, designs, including architecture, choreographic works, music composition and other products that involve ingenuity or creativity, commonly referred to as intellectual property.

Indeed, copyright laws are necessary because they guard the originator against theft and prevent the creator from losing out on the profit, fame and financial rewards that would accrue to him or her.

However, it is common knowledge that while elsewhere the laws are very much alive and protect their creators, the same cannot be said of what pertains in Ghana.

Some writers, publishers, musicians, radio stations, disc jockeys, students and a host of others copy copiously and use other’s works without duly acknowledging and crediting the owners, with some even commercialising the works without flinching.

They get away with such blatant disregard for copyright abuse because our laws are lax, and therefore are not able to make them fall in line.

It is the Daily Graphic’s view that it is time we made our copyright laws bite to protect creators. By doing that we would also be encouraging more creators who will not only put the country on the world map, but we will put an end to creatives dying in abject poverty as has become rampant these days because people other than themselves, live off their creativity.

We thus support the call by a Justice of the Court of Appeal, Justice Poku Adusei, which he recently made at a lecture on copyright, for users of creative materials to pay for copyright to help the growth of the creative industry.

We urge users of copyright-protected materials such as books to, as required by law, pay copyright fees to CopyGhana, which is a collective management organisation authorised by law to manage the collective rights of text and image-based copyright owners.

We agree with Justice Adusei that reprographic fees ought to be paid as stipulated by law, “Given the rampant and substantial nature of photocopying and digital copying, which cannot be classified as fair use.”

Aside from urging users of creative content to duly pay for their use to sustain the creative space, we believe that it is in the interest of all creatives to school themselves on the protection they enjoy under the copyright provisions of the country and employ the services of lawyers who would assist them in case they suffer any infringements.

Also, all works must be appropriately registered to forestall any theft, especially when the creative works gain traction.

Further, the Daily Graphic enjoins the government to properly resource and empower the copyright office as well as the Ghana Music Rights Organisation, so that it is able to resolve copyright infringement cases efficiently and ensure legal accountability.

We especially call for the digitalisation of the Copyright Office of Ghana so that the laws are able to protect creatives effectively, more creative works are encouraged and the fight against plagiarism, piracy and other copyright infringements become successful.

Last December, in an interview, the President of the Film Producers Association of Ghana, James Aboagye, explained that the existing copyright laws of the country lacked provisions that would allow content creators to assert their rights in case of piracy and other challenges they faced when unauthorised reproduction of their work occurred.

We join in his call for urgent action from the copyright office to issue digital certificates to movie producers and creatives, to empower creators to claim ownership on prominent video streaming platforms and challenge unauthorised uploads effectively.

The Daily Graphic also urges the copyright office and its stakeholders to educate the public on copyright issues, with particular emphasis on royalties and acquisition process to prevent conflict of interest and ensure fair compensation for creators.

It is a shame that attempts by the copyright office to digitalise it have been unsuccessful due to financial and logistic constraints, as disclosed by a Senior Research and Documentation Officer at the Ghana Copyright Office, James Owusu Ansah.

If we are going to make any headway in our creative industry the government must ensure funds are provided to adequately resource the copyright office, for we cannot reap where we have not sown.