Cpoyright Violater Fined 500,000C

Accra Yaw Agyapong, Managing Proprietor of Canopy Enterprise at Kantamanto market, who flouted the copyright law, was today sentenced to a fine of 500,000 cedis by a circuit court in Accra. He will go to prison for three years if he fails to pay the fine. Agyapong pleaded not guilty to a charge of illegal reproduction on commercial basis of musical albums. The court, presided over by Mrs Avril Yeboah, ordered that a telex duplicating machine which Agyapong used in the reproduction of cassettes be confiscated and sold by the Copyright Administrator and the proceeds be given to artistes whose works were reproduced. In his defence, Agyapong said he did not know that reproduction of the musical works of artistes constitutes an offence. The prosecutor, Chief Inspector E.C. Antwi told the court that on March seven, 1993, following a tip-off that Agyapong was reproducing large quantities of musical cassettes of renowned musicians including, K.K. Kabobo, Tagoe Sisters and Kodwo Antwi, his store was searched and assorted pirated works of Ghanaian artistes were found. The prosecutor said when he was sent to the Copyright Administrator for questioning, Agyapong said he did not know that what he did offended the law.