The Commercial Court 7 in Accra has delivered a verdict in the copyright infringement case between music producer Spiky and the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The court found CAF guilty of using the beat of Spiky’s music, “Okomfo Anokye,” without permission as part of promotional materials for the 2018 CAF awards.
Justice Emmanuel Loddoh, who presided over the case, awarded damages of Ghana Cedis equivalent to USD250,000 and a legal cost of GHS 40,000 against CAF. Spiky, whose real name is Kwabena Ofei-Kwadey Nkrumah, had sued CAF for copyright infringement, stating that their actions were a total disrespect for his intellectual property rights and caused him to lose money from potential licensing of his music for commercial use.
Before taking CAF to court, Spiky had called them out on social media in 2019 for copyright infringement. He noted that although CAF had admitted to using his work without consent and apologized, they failed to respond to his demand for compensation. CAF admitted to failing to seek permission but argued that the musical work was available online for free download and was not used for commercial purposes. They also claimed to have deleted the work from their social media accounts and apologized to Spiky.
In a social media post, Spiky expressed his excitement about the court’s decision, writing: “A win for the creative industry: CAF vs Spiky’s.”
