Accra, Nov. 22 GNA - The film negative of a picture belongs to the photographer and not the client, Ms Yaa Attafuah, Deputy Copyright Administrator of Ghana, said on Wednesday.
She explained that photography as a creative work was protected under the Copyright Act and as such the author is the owner of the works and said the film 'negative' or image becomes the intellectual property of the photographer unless otherwise agreed upon between the photographer and the client.
Ms Attafuah was speaking at a forum the Ghana Union of Professional Photographers in Accra organised on 93Photography and the Copyright Law=94 and was on the theme: "The Photographer, The Negative And The copyright; The Way Forward."
Ms Attafuah said an author was automatically protected by copyright so far as the works were his or hers and were original. She said people only registered their works with the Copyright Office to give evidence of ownership and in case of legal suit. She said photographers as any other creative authors had the right to reproduce their own works through out their lifetime and seventy years after.
Ms Attafuah also challenged the photographers to exercise their rights under the Copyright Act with responsibility and not to intrude into people's private lives.
Mr Dan Jim Selassie, President of the Ghana Union of Professional Photographers, said the issue of clients requesting for their negative film was a big challenge to the profession.
He cited a case in the Brong Ahafo Region where a circuit court judge had ruled in favour of a Sunyani photographer's client, when the client sued the photographer for his negative after the photographer had presented his pictures to him.
He expressed the hope that the meeting would also allow the photographers to learn and streamline their activities with respect to their obligations under the Copyright Act. 22 Nov. 06
