Vexing Pirates

Once again the issue of piracy,one of the very sour subjects often bemoaned by artistes,producers and others in the music industry has come up for discussion following the arrest of a businessman described as a big time pirate of Ghanaian musical works in Canada.

The alleged pirate has been charged by police for illegally duplicating and selling the music and video of at least 42 Ghanaian artistes within the past one year alone.

Copyright infringement and related offences have caused a lot of headache for the copyright office in Ghana who have been mounting exercises to combat the practice in Ghana.

Such exercises have often been met by a myriad of obstacles including non-co-operation by the law agencies and sometimes outright violent confrontation by offenders.

Remarkably, the Copyright Office in collaboration with the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) have chalked some modest successes in bringing down the practice in Ghana or at least making perpetrators aware that they are involved in illegal business.All this while, other pirates who felt because they operated outside the country and therefore can not be touched by the laws have been having a field day.

With the arrest of the Canadian based Ghanaian businessman, now it should be clear to all that no matter how long it takes, pirates can run but they can?t hide.

Once again the issue of piracy,one of the very sour subjects often bemoaned by artistes,producers and others in the music industry has come up for discussion following the arrest of a businessman described as a big time pirate of Ghanaian musical works in Canada.

The alleged pirate has been charged by police for illegally duplicating and selling the music and video of at least 42 Ghanaian artistes within the past one year alone.

Copyright infringement and related offences have caused a lot of headache for the copyright office in Ghana who have been mounting exercises to combat the practice in Ghana.

Such exercises have often been met by a myriad of obstacles including non-co-operation by the law agencies and sometimes outright violent confrontation by offenders.

Remarkably, the Copyright Office in collaboration with the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) have chalked some modest successes in bringing down the practice in Ghana or at least making perpetrators aware that they are involved in illegal business.All this while, other pirates who felt because they operated outside the country and therefore can not be touched by the laws have been having a field day.

With the arrest of the Canadian based Ghanaian businessman, now it should be clear to all that no matter how long it takes, pirates can run but they can?t hide.