Intellectual Property (IP) Lawyer Onyinyechukwu Mary-Magdalene Dotsey has cautioned creatives who sign distribution deals to be mindful of “the terms” they agree to.

She spoke on day-one, Wednesday, October 2, at the 2024 Annual Conference of the Performing Arts (ACPA) organised and hosted by the National Theatre, Accra.

“You also have to clearly state the particular work for which that contract concerns. If not, it may be ambiguous. You may have four songs on your [tape] and you may only want that contract for one song. If you don’t clearly state that it is this song in this album, the person may go ahead and exploit all the other songs and you may not be able to enforce your rights on those ones because you failed to clearly state it,” she advised players in the audio industry.

Mrs Dotsey advocated, also, “as you’re trying to prevent people from infringing on your rights, you also have to not infringe on other people’s rights”.

Here, she was encouraging creatives to be diligent in perusing contracts to be sure they are being fair to every party involved.

“Maybe your producer or somebody else has mistakenly used somebody’s work without the person’s consent or authorisation,” she explained.

An IP infringement is when a creative work is used without acknowledging the creator and or ensuring they got their fair share of financial proceeds from said work, she added.

A two-day event, the inaugural ACPA was themed: We Have Value – Building Bridges to Success.

It brought together policymakers, tax officials, and stakeholders from across the creative arts value chain including playwrights, visual artists, musicians, actors, event organisers, media personalities, arts educators, authors, marketers, etc.  

The Deputy Minister for Tourism Arts & Culture (MoTAC), Mark Okraku-Mantey, was present and addressed the audience of both young and old people.