Copyright Act, 2005 (ACT 690)

Authors, co-authors, or joint authors are entitled to copyright and protection for listed works if the work meets the section’s eligibility conditions.

Copyright does not cover ideas, concepts, procedures, methods, or similar things.

Copyright in the work vests in the President for the people of the Republic, or in an international body in the stated cases.

Folklore is protected against reproduction, public communication, cable or other distribution, and adaptation, translation, or other transformation; the rights are vested in the President in trust for the people of the Republic.

Authors of protected copyright works have the exclusive economic right to do or authorize several acts involving the work.

The author of protected copyright work has moral rights to claim authorship and to object to harmful modifications of the work.

If there is no contract saying otherwise, the employer or commissioning person gets the economic right in a work made by an employed or commissioned author in the course of that employment or commission.

Certain works do not attract the rights referred to in sections 5 and 6, and the President is trustee of those works for the public, except private-media news works.

The copyright owner may transfer economic rights, but not moral rights; a dissatisfied person may seek High Court review of the Copyright Administrator’s decision.

Producers of sound recordings or audio visual works must put specified credit and rights information on the label or container.

Producers must put a notice on commercial copies of sound recordings or audio visual works, including the year of first publication, and place it so it reasonably gives notice of the producer’s protection claim.

Copyright rights for an individual author last for the author’s life and 70 years after death, unless this Act says otherwise.

If a public corporation or other body corporate owns copyright in a work, protection lasts 70 years from the later of the work being made or first published.

Anonymous or pseudonymous works get copyright protection for 70 years from the later of creation, first public availability, or first publication; if the author’s identity becomes known before then, protection lasts for the author’s life plus 70 years after death.

For audio-visual works, the author’s section 5 rights are protected for 70 years, with a special later-start rule if the work is made public during that period with the author’s consent.

For sound recordings, the author’s rights are protected for 70 years after publication, or if unpublished, 70 years after fixation.

Rights in folklore under section 4 exist in perpetuity.

Authors’ moral rights continue forever, and the author can enforce them during life; after death, the author’s successors can enforce them too.

This section lets people use copyrighted literary or artistic works in specified ways without infringing copyright or needing the owner’s consent.

A lawful owner may make a single copy or adapt a computer program when needed for permitted use or for archival/replacement purposes.

Libraries and archives that are not-for-gain may make one reprographic copy of a protected work without authorisation, if the use fits the section’s conditions.

This section says certain uses are not infringement: accidental or incidental inclusion of a work in news reporting about fresh events or new information, and publication of a person’s portrait for scientific, educational, cultural, or public-interest related purposes.

A broadcaster may record a broadcast and make copies for its own use, but the copies must be destroyed within six months unless an authorised recording of exceptional documentary character is preserved for the National Archives.

Certain sound-recording manufacturers, producers, or production companies may make copies of musical works or similar adaptations if the stated licensing and import conditions are met, but they must give notice and pay royalties.

Manufacturers, importers, or publishers of sound or audio-visual recordings must buy the required security device with Ministerial approval, and the device must be attached to each copy. People must not sell or display for sale a copyright work that needs a security device unless it is affixed.

A customs officer must not allow importation of a copyright work unless satisfied it is not pirated and written clearance has been obtained from the right owner and the Copyright Office.

This section imposes a levy on devices that can be used to copy copyright works, requires customs to collect it at importation or production, and bars importation without paying the levy.

A person may not use a performer’s performance or fixation in the listed ways without the performer’s authorization; performers have exclusive rights to authorise or prohibit those uses.

A performer’s rights in a performance are protected for 70 years from the end of the calendar year when the performance was fixed on a physical medium, or if it was not fixed, from the end of that year’s performance date.

A performer is entitled to make a contract with any person for use of the performance, subject to sections 5 and 28(3).

A performer is entitled to be identified with certain performances and to object to harmful changes to a personal performance.

Section 32 says section 28 should not be read as consenting to certain broadcast-related acts.

A broadcasting organisation has the exclusive right to allow or block rebroadcasting, fixation, reproduction of a fixation, and communication to the public of its broadcast.

A broadcasting organisation has the right to stop unwanted signals from being distributed in or from the Republic.

Sections 28 and 33 do not apply for certain uses, including private use, short-excerpt reporting of current events, teaching or scientific research, short quotations used fairly for information, and other permitted uses under sections 19 to 23.

A broadcasting organisation’s rights under sections 33 and 34 are protected for 40 years from the date the broadcast or signal is made.

Certain copyright-related performers, producers, and copyright owners are entitled to royalties when their works are publicly used or performed.

This section says which works are in the public domain, how an author can renounce rights in writing and publicly, and how a minister-set fee and a fund for those fees are to be handled.

The Copyright Administrator must keep registers for associations of authors, works, and productions. A publisher in the Republic may submit a work for registration after publication, and may deposit two copies of the best edition at the Copyright Office.

A person named as the author on a work is presumed to be the author unless there is proof otherwise.

Doing an act that goes against the specified rights of authors, performers, or broadcasting organisations is an infringement; the right owner may seek civil relief.

A person commits an offence if they do the listed copyright-related acts without authority or for non-private use, including copying, distribution, public exhibition, removing rights management information, or circumvention-related conduct.

A person who infringes a right protected by the Act commits an offence and can be fined or imprisoned on summary conviction.

A person must not sell, offer, or distribute certain folklore copies in the Republic without written permission from the National Folklore Board.

If an offence is committed by a body of persons, directors/secretaries of a body corporate or partners may also be treated as having committed it. A charged person is not treated as having committed the offence if they prove lack of consent or connivance and due diligence.

The court may, in addition to any punishment for an offence under the Act, order payment of money from the offence to the person entitled to it and order forfeiture and disposal of infringing material and devices used in the infringement.

This section lets a rights holder or affected person ask the High Court for injunctions, detention of goods, or damages, and sets CEPS procedures and deadlines for detained goods.

Parties in a dispute under this Act or related copyright matters may try to settle it by negotiation; if that fails, either or both parties may report to the Copyright Administrator for mediation, and an unhappy party may seek redress from court.

Authors, producers, performers, and publishers may form collective administration societies; such a society may, with the right owner’s authority, collect and distribute royalties; the Minister may make regulations for these societies.

This section establishes a copyright monitoring team and requires it to monitor copyright works, investigate copyright cases, carry out anti-piracy activity, and do other necessary work to protect authors.

This section establishes a Copyright Tribunal called the "Tribunal."

The Tribunal must have three members, including one lawyer of at least ten years’ standing who chairs the Tribunal.

The Tribunal must hear certain licensing and royalty matters, review a prescribed performer royalty rate, and make recommendations to the Minister.

Tribunal members are appointed by the Minister, serve for up to three years, may be reappointed, and may resign or be removed in specified circumstances.

A Tribunal member is entitled to remuneration, and the Minister determines the amount.

This section says the Tribunal can keep hearing a case if one member drops out, as long as two members remain. If the chairperson cannot continue, the chairperson must appoint a replacement chairperson and, if needed, a qualified adviser on legal questions. The Tribunal’s sitting place and time are set by the chairperson or acting chairperson.

The Minister must make regulations for Copyright Tribunal proceedings, and those regulations may let the Tribunal refuse some representative organisations, join interested persons or organisations, and require parties to be heard.

The Tribunal’s decisions on questions of law can be appealed to the High Court, and the Tribunal may also refer a question of law to the High Court by case stated. The High Court’s decision is binding on the Tribunal.

This section creates the National Folklore Board and says what the Board must consist of.

Board members serve for four years and can be re-appointed when that term ends.

Members of the Board are to be paid allowances set by the Minister after consulting the Minister responsible for finance.

The Board must meet to conduct business at times and places the chairperson decides, and it must meet at least once every three months.

The Board must carry out several folklore-related functions, including registering, preserving, advising the public, and promoting awareness and dissemination.

If someone wants to use folklore for a purpose not allowed by section 19, they must apply to the Board for permission and pay a fee set by the Board.

The Act establishes the Copyright Office, sets its headquarters in Accra, and allows regional branches to be opened in regions determined by the Minister on advice of the Legal Service Board.

The Copyright Office is responsible for copyright administration and must carry out listed copyright-related functions.

The governing body of the Copyright Office is the Legal Service Board.

The Copyright Administrator is the chief executive of the Copyright Office, appointed by the President, and may delegate duties.

The section sets out how staff for the Copyright Office are appointed and what they do.

The Copyright Office’s operating funds may come from Parliament-approved money, donations, gifts, and other money approved by the Minister for Finance.

The Copyright Office must send detailed budget estimates for the next year to the Minister responsible for Finance at the end of each financial year.

The Copyright Office must keep proper accounts and records, use a form approved by the Auditor-General, have its accounts audited within three months after the financial year, and submit the audit report to the Board.

The Copyright Office must send an annual report to the Minister within six months after each financial year, and the Minister must forward it to Parliament within two months of receiving it.

The Minister may make regulations by legislative instrument on registration and deposit of works, certain copyright-related levies, contracts and licences, and other measures needed to carry out the Act.

The Minister may delegate any power under this Act in writing to the Copyright Administrator or another public officer.

This section defines key terms used in the Act, including artistic work, author, Board, broadcasting, copy, folklore, literary work, producer, and publisher.

This section repeals the Copyright Law, 1985, but preserves existing rights and valid appointments.

This section extends the Act’s protection to certain older works, performances, and sound recordings if their protection term had not already expired.