Rex Omar wins 20,000GHS Copyright suit against Joy Industries Limited
1 February 2020
by Eugen Brown
Ghanaian veteran musician, Rex Omar, has been awarded GH¢200,000 as damages for his 2015 copyright suit against, Joy Industries Limited, a brewery company, which used portions of his song ‘Dada Di Da’ without his permission.
In its ruling on Wednesday, a High Court in Koforidua ordered the damages of GH¢200,000 and a GH¢30,000 cost of legal fees to be awarded to the musician by the company.
It’s been five years since the singer and the company have been going back and forth on the issue. Rex Omar sued Joy Industries Limited in June 2015 for copyright infringements after the company used his song to advertise their product, Joy Dadi Bitters, without his authorisation.
Myjoyonline.com reports that the musician also applied for an interlocutory injunction against the company to restrain it from continuing to advertise the product with his song.
In moving the application for injunction, Rex Omar’s lawyer, Golda Denyo of Bentsi-Enchill, Letsa & Ankomah argued that, Joy Industries Ltd has infringed on Rex Omar’s economic and moral rights by not seeking his consent before using the song.
Opposing this argument by the complainant, the lawyer for Joy Industries Limited’s lawyer, Francis E. Polley, argued that the company had spent a lot of money on the advertisement and that damages would be adequate compensation to Rex Omar.
But on November 27, 2015, the court delivered its ruling on the application and granted the order of interlocutory injunction that Rex Omar sought.
The judge, Justice Barbara Ward Acquah, said that Rex Omar’s application and claims raise serious issues for trial by the court. She added that moral rights are real, can be protected and cannot be put on a scale in comparison with money.
The company was also ordered to stop any electronic media from playing their commercial with any part of Rex Omar’s work pending the final determination of a copyrights action filed against the company by the musician.
Aside from the damages and legal fees, Rex Omar also received GH¢1,000 as cost for filing the application.
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