There appears to be uneasy calm at Myjoyonline.com, Adomonline.com and Citinewsroom.com over the purported usage of their contents by Ghanaweb.
Ghanaweb has been asked to delete all contents (articles, videos) belonging to the above mentioned portals which it has used without permission and to desist from doing same going forward.
Currently, GhanaWeb dominates the online media landscape in Ghana.
It is leading to an extend by aggregating or picking articles or contents of other news portals apparently without permission to publish on its website.
An industry expert says the fight against Ghanaweb is because it is making huge revenue from contents it publishes, some of which belongs to other media houses.
A source at Ghanaweb confirmed to DGN online that indeed the portal has been warned to desist from using contents of Myjoyonline.com, Adomonline.com and Citinewsroom.com.
Asked whether Myjoyonline.com, Adomonline.com and Citinewsroom.com have not equally been lifting Ghanaweb’s contents without seeking permission, the source retorted “they do. But all that is going to cease.”
However, the source said management of Ghanaweb is prepared to respect their wishes and desist from using their contents.
“We will respect their wishes,” according to the source.
Ghanaweb equally produces contents both articles, and videos which are apparently lifted in wholesale fashion and published by other portals.
Lifting of stories or contents without prior permission seem to be an industry thing in Ghana.
The likes of Peacefmonline, ModernGhana, and even Myjoyonline, do also copy stories from other sites onto their portals.
There have been instances where some of them have directly lifted stories or contents from DGN Online, the website of Daily Guide without seeking permission.
Both Citi and MyJoy regard themselves as the leading forces within the Ghanaian news industry but appear to have been beaten by Ghanaweb in the online news front.
It is unclear whether the likes of Myjoyonline and Citi seek permission from other sites where they source news, especially international news.
A large chunk of news articles and contents on Myjoyonline.com daily are sourced from other websites locally and internationally.
The use of contents without permission is an infringement on the copyright of the originator (s) of the contents in question.
Copyright protection in Ghana is governed by Act 690 of 2005.
A significant number of news portals in Ghana lift contents of their competitors without sourcing, a clear case of intellectual dishonesty.
That exposes the weak enforcement of the intellectual property rights regime in Ghana.
BY Melvin Tarlue