PARTICIPANTS at a two-day UNESCO/PAWA workshop on copyright have called for a stakeholder’s forum on the issue of the indigenous use of folklore.

They also wanted more consultations among the Legislature and other relevant stake holders before laws on copyright were made.

The participants drawn from among writers, publishers, musicians, lecturers, booksellers as well as practitioners of the film and television arts, also called on the law enforcement agencies to hold government institutions culpable when they infringed the law on copyright.

These were contained in a communiqué issued recently after a twoday UNESCO/PAWA workshop on copyright to mark this year’s celebration in Ghana of the World Book and Copyright Day 2007. The workshop, which was under the theme, “Copyright, The Creator and National Development”, saw fifty (50) participants in attendance.

In the communiqué which is yet to be sent to the appropriate governmental bodies and other institutions for the necessary consideration, the participants changed the Copyright Administrator to be more proactive in the enforcement of copyright laws as well as educate the masses on copyright laws.

Hon. Sampson Kwaku Boafo (MP), Minister for Chieftaincy and Culture opening the workshop, advised the participants to make meaningful inputs and contributions to achieve a successful workshop because “the freedom enjoyed today by authors and publishers of intellectual works through the Collective Administration of Copyright and Neighbouring Rights has not arrived on silver platter”.

The Minister, in chronicling the evolution of copyright, said there were two legal approaches to copyright: Continental European Approach and the Anglo- American Approach which have brought about differences in the shaping of national laws on copyright.

He however noted that, what was important was that, “a copyright law must guarantee to writers, artists, composers and other creators of works of the mind, certain rights limited in time regarding the ownership of such rights for use of their creative works”.

The Secretary-General of the Pan African writers Association (PAWA), Prof.Atukai, in welcoming the guests and the participants, paid glowing tribute to UNESCO for partnering the workshop. “This is therefore why the Pan African writers’ Association commends UNESCO for partnering PAWA and our neighbouring stake holding institutions to put in place this vital platform for the exchange of and reflection the welfare not only of the authors of works that gladden and sadden, but creations that shackle the sensibilities of man for the sake of an enlightenment process,” he noted.

Prof Okai hoped that the workshop would afford the participants the necessary empowerment to participate in the socio-economic development of Ghana and also benefit from an “encouragement to continue with the exercise of their God-given gifts”.

The Country Director and Representative of UNESCO, Madam Elizabeth Moundo, in relying a message from Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, observed that, as there could be no book development without copyright, the celebration of the World Book and copyright Day had always been closely associated, from its inception and throughout all these years, with an awareness of the importance of the moral and heritage protection afforded to works of the human spirit and their creators, hence the twoday workshop.

The speakers at the workshop who spoke on various topics in relation to the theme included Mr. Setheli Ashong-Katai, Dr. Kwesi Owusu, Ms. Akosua Busia, Chief Dele Momodu, Mr. Kenneth Laryea, Mr. Kojo Laing, Mr. Carlos Sakyi, Mr. Andrew Ofoe Amegather, Nana Bosomprah, Mr. Alex Agyei Agyiri  and Mr. Poku Adusei.

TIMES WEEKEND    -           Saturday, May 26, 2007           Page: 13