Hello everyone,
It is a fact that for many African countries especially, a common thing like a selfie with a national statue can be copyright infringement.
For some time now
Wikimedia Ghana UG has been learning what it needs to do to have
Freedom of
Panorama introduced in Ghana.
Today we are happy to announce that following
a session on
Freedom of
Panorama with Douglas Scott of Wikipedia ZA at
re:publica Accra conference, we have put up a petition on
change.org for the President of Ghana to put his weight behind this.
Before you sign the petition you'll need to know this:
Problem:
Ghana's Copyright Act of 2003, Act 690 at the moment restricts Freedom of Panorama.
Because of the restriction of Freedom of Panorama taking a photo or video, or creating images or copies of monuments, buildings, sculptures and other permanently public artwork including those belonging to the state could be a crime.
Our Request
We are petitioning his excellency and our minister for the arts to have Parliament revisit our Copyright Act of 2003, Act 690 and grant Freedom of Panorama.
About Fair Dealing In Ghana
We have put a preamble to our FOP research as adviced by a lawyer
here to explain the status quo in Ghana.
Why the president?
Though it is Ghana's Parliament that would amend the act, the lawyer and the presidential staffer who is our liaison has recommended we channel this through the presidency instead.
The Chief of Staff is ready to receive this on the president's behalf
And while you are there, if you have questions, suggestions, concerns, even typos to report, I'll gladly handle them before we print it out for delivery.