Court throws out Mantse’s case against Obrafour and Hammer, awards defendants GH¢10,000

The legal tussle between Mantse Aryeequaye, founder of the Chalewote Street Art Festival and acclaimed Ghanaian rapper,  Obrafour along with music producer, Dave Hammer has reached a resolution with the court dismissing Mantse’s copyright ownership case.

An Accra high court dismissed the copyright ownership case presented before it by Mantse, who sued Obrafour and Hammer for allegedly claiming sole ownership of the famous ‘killer cut blood’ phrase.

It will be recalled that the ownership of the phrase, used in the popular Obrafour track Oye Ohene, came under scrutiny after the rapper sued Canadian artiste Drake for using it in his track without the former’s permission.

In the suit, Mantse accused Obrafour of claiming ownership of the phrase and copyrighting it in the US in September 2022.

He stated that “his artistic work, in the form of a spoken word titled “Killer Cut”, was used on the song ‘Oye Ohene’ by 1st defendant (Obrafour) with permission, but without transfer of any rights, nor permission to 1 defendant to register the work as his own, or receive any payments from its subsequent use by anyone in any form.”

He added that “the “Killer Cut” which was used by the 1st Defendant in his song, is separate and distinct from the song recorded by Defendants. It was recorded separately and subsequently infused into the 1st Defendant’s song by the 2nd Defendant (Hammer), mainly to enhance/improve the song.”

Mantse said that after knowing of Drake’s request to use that part of the ‘Oye Ohene’ track, he called for a meeting with both Obrafour and Hammer, however, none of his requests materialised. He noted that he later found out Obrafour had registered the track with the phrase inclusive in the US “robbing him (Mantse) of his intellectual property and seeking to receive payment for plaintiff’s work exclusively.”

However, according to reports by Ghana web, the court after sitting today, February 25, 2023, dismissed the case on what it termed as ‘Inconsistencies and breach of court rules’ in Matse’s writ. The court further awarded the defendants, Hammer and Obrafour Gh 10,000.