Spiky Wins $250,000 Legal Battle Against CAF Over Unlicensed Song Usage

Ghanaian music producer, Kwabena Ofei-Kwadey Nkrumah, otherwise known as Spiky  has emerged victorious in his legal battle over intellectual property rights against the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

The commercial court in Accra ruled in favor of Nkrumah, finding CAF guilty of unauthorized use of his music track “Okomfo Anokye” for promotional purposes during the 2018 CAF Awards.

Judge Emmanuel Loddoh ordered CAF to pay damages totaling USD 250,000 in Ghanaian cedis, in addition to legal costs amounting to GHS 40,000.

Nkrumah, also known as Spiky, argued that CAF’s actions displayed a lack of respect for his intellectual property rights, leading to financial losses due to missed licensing opportunities.

Despite CAF admitting to the infringement and issuing an apology, they failed to respond to Spiky’s compensation request. CAF defended their actions by stating that the music was freely available online and used without restrictions for their social media content. They also claimed that the CAF Awards was a non-commercial event, therefore not generating profit from the soundtrack.

Following the court ruling, CAF removed the music from their social media platforms and issued a formal apology to Spiky.