The Copyright office, in collaboration with the Copyright Monitoring Team (CMT), on Tuesday launched the copyright public education and awareness creation campaign at the Coconut Groove Regency Hotel in Accra.
The launch ceremony, which was attended by a section of the stakeholders in the creative industry, was performed by the acting copyright administrator, Yaa Attafua.
Speaking at the ceremony, the acting copyright administrator said public education and awareness creation are integral parts of the copyright system.
According to her, the public education campaign is being organised to educate the public and create awareness about the negative impact of copyright activities on the development of the creative industry.
She said experience in the copyright delivery system has shown that there cannot be any effective enforcement system without education.
“Education, awareness creation and building respect for copyright are prerequisites for enforcement,” Ms Attafua indicated.
She stressed that the digital technology has made enormous impact on the copyright landscape, saying that although the digital ecosystem provides enormous opportunities to creators of copyright’s global market, they are not without challenges.
“It is for this reason that the Copyright Office, together with the Copyright Monitoring Team (CMT), is stepping up its education and awareness creation campaign by using both the media to drum home to all and sundry the need to respect the rights of creators,” the copyright administrator added.
Oh her part, Dorothy Habadah, chairperson of the CMT, said the team is made up police officers, copyright owners, book publishers, audio visual right and musical rights holders and copyright office.
She said the team’s mandate is to monitor copyright works in Ghana, investigate cases in respect of copyright, undertake anti-piracy exercise and perform any other functions that are necessary to protect others.
Ms Habadah explained that with the view to expanding their reach, they have decided to set up various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, through which they would easily disseminate information to the public and put up bill boards at various locations mainly in Kumasi and Accra.