Obibini Takyi Jnr.
Afro pop–highlife artiste, Obibini Takyi Jnr. of Aput?? fame, is demanding compensation from hiplife artiste, Frank Osei, aka Frank Naro, for using his late father’s (Obibini Takyi) song, Aksombo Kanea, without his permission.
According to Obibini Takyi Jnr, he and management team were not consulted in the making of the remix version of the song and that the singer of the remixed version of his father’s song violated the copyright laws, hence the need to be paid some compensation.
In an interview with BEATWAVES, Obibini Takyi and his management team insisted that Frank Nero should compensate him and his family for the illegal use of his father’s intellectual property.
Obibini Takyi revealed that he does not want to proceed to court now for the matter to be addressed, and for that reason, his managers were at the negotiation table with the management of Ghana Music Right Organization (GHAMRO) and the singer to ensure that he and his family were duly compensated.
BEATWAVES gathered that to infringe a copyright refers to when the work protected by a 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.
In case of infringement of a copyright, 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.
Obibini Takyi Jnr., who is currently in the studio working on some of his upcoming singles to be released by the close of the year, told BEATWAVES “I am from a musical family, the Obibini Takyi family. Obibini Takyi is my father. I want Ghanaians to expect nothing but good music from me, something you would expect from my father.  That is who I am trying to live up to. I want to keep my father’s legacy alive.”
He expressed optimism that his yet to be release songs would get the needed attention from Ghanaians; and had come a very long way as an afro pop and highlife artiste.
A beat-maker and sound engineer, Obibini Takyi has a number of hit songs such as Boso Powder and Yebe Boso. His hit single, Aput??, was produced by Kaywa.
Another song from Obibini Takyi Jnr., Ye B3 Bo So featuring Kofi Kinaata and Zack GH, was also produced by Kin Dee First Klass Music record label.
By George Clifford Owusu