BETTY MOULD-IDDRISU CHALLENGES JOURNALISTS TO TEST COPYRIGHT LAW IN COURT… As Ayeboafoh accuses media of playing double standards

THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL and Minister for Justice, Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu, has urged journalists and all others, whose original works, especially that of intellectual property, are infringed upon, to resort to the law court for redress.

According to her, this would provide more test cases, under the Intellectual Property law, and also enable judges who have the primary responsibility to interpret the law, expound it.

In addition, it would serve as a guide in other cases, and a means to discourage and stop the act, saying, “I wish there were more lawsuits.”

She stressed, “I will encourage all of you to use the courts,” because the basic principle that guides the media, is that one cannot use the work of another person, without giving credit to the original source.

She noted that intellectual property was a private right that had both civil and criminal triggers, hence individuals themselves must seek to protect that right, without relying on the state to do so for them.

The state only comes in to regulate unauthorised reproduction, she explained, and pointed out that a country, out of necessity, needs to protect its work against unauthorised copying.

The Attorney-General was speaking at a symposium organised by the Editors Forum, Ghana (EFG), on the theme “The Rights and Responsibilities of the Media under the Copyright Law,” in Accra yesterday.

She said copyright was a unique branch of the intellectual property law, which many people tend to ignore, hence use the work of people, whether alive or dead, without attribution to them.

“Creative works are protected by copyright, however, we are so much exposed to these works in our daily lives, that sometimes we either take them for granted, or that we hardly think of their origins,” she added.

She indicated that creative works were done primarily for education, enjoyment and improving the quality of life, which also tie in with the prime objective of the media to inform, educate and entertain.

Thus, it is necessary to ensure that the creators of works get recognition and fair reward for their labour, such as the basic exclusive mechanism, to prevent the unauthorised use of copyright protected works, she stated.

She lauded the EFG for the programme aimed at educating the media on copyright, in view of its importance to their work, especially, because it determines the extent to which journalists can quote, or use the works of third parties in their reports and articles.

Mrs. Iddrisu mentioned that copyright does not protect ideas, but expression of the ideas, hence it further establishes what rights a journalist, newspaper or television company, has to exploit their own works, and prevent others from benefiting from it.

She observed that because the media are consumers and creators of copyright protected works, and especially taking into consideration the large numbers of radio stations and newspaper circulation, it was imperative for practitioners in the media to be very conversant with the copyright regime.

She announced that her ministry was currently examining the legal and regulatory framework relating to copyright, with the view to strengthening them for the benefit of the owners and users, adding, “plans are underway to merge the Industrial Property section of the Registry-General's Department and the Copyright Office, to constitute a one-stop shop Intellectual Property Office.”

She concluded that the government would work to harness the potential in the creative industry, appealing to all to provide support in this direction. The General Manager (Newspaper), Graphic Communications Group, Mr. Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, took on the media for what he described as double standards, because they indulge in acts for which they criticise others.

He said the media fail in their responsibilities when they appropriate other people's stories without sourcing, saying, “the reality dawns on us when it turns out that the story we gleefully and uncritically carried, has no basis, then we plead the alibi that we did not originate the stories.”

This, he pointed, out makes the media lose its gate-keeping role, and rather become passive receptacles.

Mr. Ayeboafoh, who is also a member of the EFG, noted that when people fail to acknowledge sources, it may be legally difficult to prove their guilt or liability, but in another vein, breaches the ethics of the profession.

He made reference to Section 4 of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Code of Ethics which states “a journalist should not plagiarise, because it is unethical and illegal,” which to him, the broadcast media, especially radio presenters, flout.

He emphasised, “our radio presenters infringe the ethics of copyright all the time when they discuss stories without sourcing.”

Furthermore, he lamented, “there are many who continually use reports from the Ghana News Agency (GNA) without sourcing,” asking, “what crime has the GNA committed?”

He urged the media not to be under the erroneous impression that because there is a general principle that news items sourced from public events are not copyrighted and that they could be re-used without acknowledgement.