Ghanaian producer wins $250 000 in CAF copyright lawsuit

The ruling concludes a five-year legal dispute in which Nkrumah accused the football governing body of using his track ‘Spiky- Okomfo Anokye’ for the 2018 CAF Awards promotions without payment. 

In July 2019, Nkrumah criticised CAF on Twitter for violating his intellectual property rights. In court, he demanded that CAF acknowledge their unauthorised use of his music and sought both damages and legal costs for the infringement. 

In its defence, CAF acknowledged the use of the soundtrack without obtaining prior consent, claiming the work was “available online for free download without any restrictions or conditions.” 

However, in its verdict on 17 July, the court, presided over by Justice Emmanuel Lodoh, determined that infringement had taken place and issued an injunction against the defendants, whom it ordered to remove all infringing content from social media and pay damages equivalent to $250 000 in Ghanaian cedis (GHC), plus court costs of GHC40 000. 

Nkrumah told Music In Africa in September 2022 that he was in court because his “rights need to be vindicated”, adding that he hoped to inspire other emerging creatives by pursuing justice. “Creativity is priceless, don’t sell it cheap, and take steps to protect it,” he said. 

“Creatives deserve to be appreciated and rewarded for the work that they do,” Nkrumah told Accra-based GHOne TV following the ruling. “This win is not just for me, but it’s for the creative industry – for people to know that they can get something from their work. We’ve seen a lot of creatives end up dying paupers or retiring without enough money because people haven’t really given them what they deserve. This [win] is a way for them to realise that whatever we are doing, we can earn from them. If someone does steal our content, we can sue them [and that] the law projects us.”

Nkrumah’s win follows the resolution of a copyright issue between OFM Computer World and Team Eternity on 1 July, with a non-exclusive licence granted. OFM’s Kwame Mickey had claimed the song used parts of his 2004 track ‘Defe Defe’ without consent. 

In April last year, veteran Ghanaian musician Obrafour announced that he was pursuing legal action against Canadian hip hop artist Drake for sampling his 2003 song ‘Oye Ohene (Remix)’ on the latter’s ‘Calling My Name’ single without his consent.