Copyright Act will stand the test of time - COSGA

Accra, Feb. 17, GNA - The Copyright Society of Ghana (COSGA) on Friday assured the nation that the Copyright Act 690 would stand the test of time and the call for its amendment was premature, uncalled for and a big joke.

It said the Copyright Office was aware that the group behind a communiqu=E9 calling for the amendment of the law had brought foreign consultants to denigrate the Act passed by the Sovereign Parliament of Ghana.

The Society said the major stakeholders, which comprised the Copyright Society of Ghana (COSGA) had commissioned the drafting of relevant legislative instruments to facilitate the work of the Attorney - General's Department and that the society did not need any foreign expertise to draft the instrument since Ghana was a member of the World Intellectual Organization (WIPO) and was entitled to assistance from their Secretariat.

A rejoinder issued by the Copyright office and signed by Mr Bernard Bosumprah, Copyright Administrator, said the Law was passed in December 2004 and it received Presidential Assent on May 17, 2005 and that it was even yet to be tested and tried.

It said; "should any section of the Law prove to be un-implementable, the same will become obvious with time. For now the Law should be permitted to work".

The rejoinder said before the passage of the Law a whole lot of local and international organizations made extensive contributions to it and those now calling for its amendment were those who kicked against it and delayed its passage and had for the over eight years (1996 - 2005) that the Law was in a bill form "Parliament gave them all the time and the hearing they deserved".

It said it was unfortunate that "just as the beneficiaries are seeking to take advantage of the Law that the same persons once again metamorphosed into workshop participants to call for the amendment of the Copyright Act".

The Act, the society said met the requirements of international treaties in the area of copyright that Ghana had signed such as the TRIPS Agreement, Berne Convention and WIPO internet treaties and compared with any modern copyright law in any part of the world. It said the Copyright Office also collaborated with the United Nations Specialized Agency on intellectual property matter at all stages of the drafting of the Law including one week visit to the WIPO Headquarters based in Geneva by Nana Akuffo-Addo, then Attorney - General to confer on the Law before presenting it to Parliament.