UAE govt warns Ghanaian rapper over copyright infringement

The notice, which was served to the rapper via social media on Monday, demands that he take down promotional material including cover art for the song. 

Established in 1995, the DTC, a subsidiary of the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority, is a legally mandated body in charge of providing transportation services in Dubai.

“We would like to inform you that DTC’s assets cannot be used in any communication material without prior approval and the ad also must be relevant to our services otherwise, our material cannot be used,” the DTC notice reads.

“You are kindly requested to delete any images/videos that include DTC’s material from all platforms as your Ad is irrelevant to our services.”

In response, the rapper on 10 March said that he had complied with the DTC request and had changed the official cover art for ‘Taxi Driver’.

“All posts containing the old picture should be replaced as we continue to stick with the new one,” a portion of Amerado’s statement reads. “Information has been sent to all our online stores to commence the replacement of the art cover.”

Article 38 of the UAE Criminal Law of 1987 and its amendments stipulates that copyright offenders “shall be punished by detention for not less than three months and payment of fine not less than AED 50 000 [about $13 600] and not more than AED 500 000.”