Ghana’s Hip-Pop sensation Kwaku T has found himself alone as he faces telecommunication giant Vodafone Ghana, in a litigation which is by far the biggest test yet for Ghana’s Copyright laws.
He is not giving up on becoming the first musician in Ghana to take on a corporate entity in the law courts, and win, for the violation of his intellectual property rights.
Earlier reports suggested that he and his partner in the suit, D-Black, had been paid off by Vodafone Ghana to withdraw the case from court but Kwaku T has denied this.
On Tuesday during their court session, counsel for D-Black said his client had decided to pull out of the case, leaving Kwaku T to continue the battle alone.
It remains unclear, however, whether D-Black’s pull-out was indeed influenced by a pay-off.
The former Big Brother Africa contestant remains optimistic despite the latest development.
“The case has taken various twists and turns but we’re on the winning side, if things are handled properly from here on. They’re just stretching the settlement and being disrespectful at the moment. It’s a joint civil suit and just last week they bought off my co-plaintiff D-Black,” he claimed.
D-Black allegedly pulled out because he felt his career would be threatened if he continued with the case. His lawyer told an Accra Commercial Court Judge that the case would go on without D-Black since he was not interested in the case.
The two originally proceeded to court after Vodafone Ghana did not respond to letters from their counsel which requested of the telecom company to stop using the advert created with their song ‘Move’, as their consent had not been sought.
Vodafone Ghana’s defence was that it consulted COSGA before using the song but Kwaku T, who is not a member of COSGA, insisted that COSGA could not have permitted the use of the song on their behalf. COSGA has refused to testify in the case.
“It’s a landmark case completely alien to Ghana’s judicial system. We would be setting a precedent and a moral one at that by winning. If we win, the corporate multinational that wants to take advantage of the blood, sweat and toil of the artiste in Ghana will think twice,” Kwaku T said.
source:newsone.com
