'This is a win for the creative arts industry' - Kobby Spiky on $250,000 lawsuit win

Ghanaian music producer Kobby Spiky has expressed his satisfaction with a judgement which awarded him a sum of $250,000 after a copyright infringement lawsuit.

The case, which began in 2018 and culminated in a legal battle starting in 2022, centred around the unauthorised use of one of his African-themed soundtracks by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

In an interview on GhOne TV on July 18, 2024, Kobby Spiky expressed his satisfaction with the judgement, noting that it serves as a significant win for the creative industry.

“This win is not just for me, but it’s for the creative industry, for people to know that, hey, they can actually get something from their work. We’ve seen a lot of creatives end up dying paupers or retiring without enough money because people haven’t really given them what they deserve.

“But this is sort of a way for them to realise that, hey, whatever we’re doing, we can actually earn from it. If someone does steal our content, we can actually sue them. The law protects us. It’s our intellectual property, it’s our copyright, and we have the right to protect it and to be rewarded if somebody uses it. And I think this should let them also look out there, make sure that nobody’s taking their intellectual property for granted. And using it without their permission. And, yeah, it’s just a win for the creative industry as a whole,” he said.

Spiky recounted how he discovered the infringement through a friend and subsequently reached out to CAF, which acknowledged the use of his work but failed to compensate him.

“I went to check it out and… they didn’t even change it a bit. They just used the whole thing. So I reached out to them… Finally, they got back to me, they apologised and acknowledged that they had used it. And I said, ‘Hey, you have to remunerate me. You have to pay me for it. You have to compensate me.’ That was it. I didn’t hear from them again. So I had lawyers send them emails, letters, to basically put them into order, and it didn’t seem to be going as we expected it, so then we had to take the legal route,” he recounted.

Despite initial doubts about the effectiveness of the Ghanaian legal system, Spiky pursued the case with the support of his lawyer, Sara Noko Anku, who educated him on copyright and intellectual property rights.

Spiky also highlighted the need for greater appreciation and support for the creative industry in Ghana, urging stakeholders to recognise the value of creative works and ensure fair compensation for artistes.

Kobby Spiky won a copyright infringement case against the Confederation of African Football (CAF). In 2022, Spiky sued CAF for using his music beat 'Okomfo Anokye', without consent, for promotional purposes. After a two-year legal battle, the court ruled in Spiky's favour, ordering CAF to remove the infringing materials and awarding him damages equivalent to USD 250,000 in Ghanaian cedis.

ID/ ADG

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