Copyright violations in Ghanaian media condemned

A symposium organised by the Editors Forum, Ghana (EFG) today highlighted the myriad of copyright law offenses in Ghana’s media landscape.

In a keynote address, the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice stressed on the importance of keeping the copyright laws.  Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu said copyright laws provide certain “exclusive economic and paternity rights in the creator of the work which enables him/her to receive credit as the author, and remunerations for his/her work.”

She distinguished between ideas and the expression of the ideas, saying the law protects the expression of the ideas but not the ideas. This implies that a newspaper cannot use another newspaper’s report word for word, or lift another media house’s footage of an event and make them theirs.

In her view, the basic law of copyright interprets as “attribution, attribution, attribution”; you must always give credit either economically or morally to the original author of a work you used.

However, she has made known her Ministry’s effort at ensuring that the Legislative Instrument to the Copyright Act becomes operational within the shortest possible time. “Plans are also underway to merge the Industrial Property section of the Registrar-General’s Department and the Copyright Office to constitute a one stop shop for Intellectual Property Office” she announced.

Mr. Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh , General Manager (Newspapers) Graphic Communications Group, presenting a paper at the symposium said he is of the conviction that violations of copyright laws, especially the measure it has assumed presently, constitutes an ethical problem in journalism. Hence as an ethical issue, the desire to live by the ethics of journalism is a voluntary one.

Outlining his personal experiences, Mr. Emmanuel K. Dogbevi, Managing Online Editor of ghanabusinessnew.com noted that the “advent of the internet or online journalism has been a major facilitator of copyright law abuses”.  He said because of the ‘public domain’ status of the Internet some people think that whatever is published online is free and can be used as one chooses.

Recounting his numerous unpleasant encounters with editors, producers, and owners of media houses in the use of his works without appropriate attribution, he mentions that in most cases most of the media houses were unaware that their actions constituted copyright violations. He said most of them have apologised and have stopped the practice, but a few, notably The Daily Guide and Ghanaweb, have continued in their unprofessional and unethical conduct.

Every speaker at the symposium related a story or two in which they had been victims of copyright law abuses. Mr. Bernard Bosumprah, the Copyright Administrator, who also gave a detailed presentation of the copyright law, thought it was strange that copyright violations should continue at such a scale on the media terrain considering that these laws have existed for a very long time, and furthermore that they are invariably part of a journalist’s responsibility to know them as a professional requirement.

He cautined media practioners to take note of the fact that the internet has only changed the technology, but not the rules, and therefore, the copyright law applies to materials published online.

He said under te Copyright Law, PNDC LAw 110, when an offender is found guilty in court, the convicted stands the risk of being fined a minimum of GH¢6,000 or a minimum of GH¢12,000 or a jail term of three years or both. He urged people who find that others have stolen their works to sick legal action.

The symposium was attended by some renowned personalities in the media like Mr. Boakye-Danquah Boadi, Supervising Editor of the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Mr. Alhassan Haruna of Metro TV, Isaac Andoh of  the Catholic Standard and Cameron Doudu, a veteran Journalist.

By George Nyavor