What Ghana’s copyright records say about rights in audiovisual work

Economic rights and moral rights cover different actions

Section 5 includes reproduction, adaptation, broadcasting and other uses. Section 6 includes claiming authorship and objecting to certain prejudicial changes. For a film contract, those provisions help identify what rights a clause addresses. Source 1

Commissioning arrangements have a default ownership rule

Section 7 says an employer or commissioning party holds the economic right when the work was created in the course of the employment or commission, unless the contract provides otherwise. The wording of the agreement can therefore matter to the film’s chain of title. Source 1

The regulations describe two separate processing stages

After receipt of the application, fee and deposit, the Copyright Administrator has two weeks to decide if the work qualifies for registration and inform the applicant. For a qualifying work, a certificate is due within another two weeks after that notification. Source 3

The term and Film Authority process use separate records

The amended Act’s audiovisual provision sets a 70-year economic-rights term with a later-date rule in specified circumstances. The Film Authority also provides a content-registration form for rights holders. The Copyright Office certificate process appears in the copyright regulations. Source 2 Source 3 Source 4

Sources

• Ghana Copyright Act 2005, sections 1, 5 to 7 and 15
• Ghana Business Regulatory Reforms Portal, Copyright Act as amended, audiovisual rights term
• Ghana Copyright Regulations 2010, regulations 1 to 4
• Ghana National Film Authority audiovisual content registration