Afram Publications engages authors over copyright issues
Copyright Ghana, a reprographic rights organization for literary rights holders, is entering into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with tertiary and second cycle institutions to roll out payment regime for the use of literary work in those institutions.
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The MoU would ensure that educational institutions are licensed to pay some money to Copyright Ghana for the commercial use of the work of authors for educational purposes.
It has also taken steps to organise training sessions for the personnel of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority and the Ghana Police Service (GPS) to check the activities of pirates who are depriving copyright owners economic returns on their work.
AGI of Afram Publications
The Documentation and Research Officer at the Copyright office, Ms Sheila Djagmah, made that known at the Annual General Meeting (AGI) of Afram Publications, a publishing entity, in Accra last Friday.
“Anyone who causes a work to be reproduced, duplicated, extracted, imitated or imported, except for the person’s private use, commits an offence. Such persons will be made to pay fines or serve prison term,” she said.
She said plans were underway to get legislative backing that would permit persons with visual impairment to have unrestricted access to literary works in forms that would suit them.
Ms Djangmah underscored the need for publishing organisations to enter in to proper agreements with authors, illustrators, editors to determine the terms of doing business.
Cordial Relationship
The Managing Director (MD) of Afram Publications, Ms Harriet Tagoe, said the AGI of the organisation was a platform to foster good relationship with the authors and editors for a mutual benefit.
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“The authors do not understand some of the copyright issues. Sometimes, they think we cheat them. So, during our AGI we invite experts from the copyright office and other bodies to explain issues to them,” she said.
She called on the public to desist from plagiarism and commercial use of the work by authors since the practice prevents the latter from getting the remuneration they deserve.
Background
The Copyright Office, in collaboration with other stakeholders in the publishing industry, inaugurated a Monitoring and Evaluation team in December last year to monitor the activities of pirates that are depriving the copyright owners of the remuneration they deserve from their works.
Some of the stakeholders include Ghana Music Right Owners (GHAMRO) Audio-visual Rights Society of Ghana (ARSOG) and Copyright Ghana.