Jay Q
A popular Ghanaian music producer, song writer and sound engineer, Jeff Quaye, popularly known as Jay Q, has accused Nigerian music producer and artiste Selebobo of using his work without his permission.
According to Jay Q, Selebobo used the horn melodies he played in VIP’s Ahomka Wom for his hit song titled Take without his permission; and that the singer using his work violated the copyright laws, hence the need to pay him some compensation.
He told Citi FM’s Kwame Dadzie in an interview that his publishers in South Africa, Sheer Publishing, had already reached out to Selebobo.
“People sent the song to me and when I checked, they had used the trombone melodies I played in there. So I contacted my publishers in South Africa and they are currently in talks,” he said.
He added, Selebobo and his team had been asked to either pull the song down on all their online platforms or agree to give Jay Q 50 per cent of the proceeds from the sale of the song.
Jay Q is the founder and current CEO of Q-Lex Entertainment and Jay-Qlex Recording Studio.
Apart from producing a number of songs for the Vision In Progress (VIP) music group, Jay Q has also worked with great Ghanaian artistes such as Castro, Mzbel, Obrafour, Daddy Lumba, Nana Acheampong, Ofori Amponsah, Akosua Agyapong, Obuoba J. A. Adofo, Wulomei and a host of others.
He is currently based in the United States of America.
What is copyright infringement?
Copyright infringement refers to when the work protected by copyright is used in the ways listed below without the authority of the copyright holder.
Copyright infringement occurs when; (a) the work is exhibited for commercial use, (b) the work is distributed, (c) the work is reproduced, extracted, duplicated for commercial use.
However, copyright infringement does not occur where the authorized piece of work is used for the purpose of teaching, research or by quotation.
In case of copyright infringement, the Act 690 of 2005 provides the following remedies to apply; the owner of the copyright may; (a) Petition the copyright administrator for the resettlement for such dispute through arbitration. (b) Institute criminal proceedings against the offender. If the offender is convicted, he stands to pay a fine. (c) He can also institute proceedings in the court for an injunction to stop continuing of infringement.