The General Manager of the Audio Visual Rights Society of Ghana (ARSOG), Major Frederick Acquah (rtd), has assured stakeholders of strident steps being taken by the Society to collect royalties due to its members. This follows various court rulings against hotel operators in Tema. According to him, three hotels in Tema have been asked by the courts to pay all monies they owe ARSOG. The hotels are Premium Star Hotel, Golden Touch Executive Guest House and Vienna City Hotel.
Over 160 hotels and 17 transport companies nation-wide have been sued by ARSOG in various courts nationwide for failing to pay any royalties for the movies they use. Some of the facilities sued have not paid since 2014.
The hotels are mainly in Accra where 74 hotels have been taken to court, 37 in Tema, one in Ada, 24 in Koforidua and 24 in Kumasi. ARSOG is represented in court by J. A Larkai of Prudential Law Offices in Accra.
According to Major Acquah (rtd), three of the transport companies Intercity STC, Chisco Ltd GH and Real VIP have opted for out of court settlement of the cases filed by ARSOG.
Major Acquah assured right owners that ARSOG is taking these urgent steps to collect royalties due them to ensure that they receive adequate compensation for the use of their work. The Chairman of ARSOG, Richard emphasized that the decision to prosecute commercial movie users who fail to pay royalties is a last resort ARSOG has chosen to collect the royalties due to the movie makers.
ARSOG is an organization comprising movie makers and it was established in 2011 to protect the rights of owners of audio visual works in the country by collecting and distributing royalties due to the right owners.
