Earlier this month, I ran into a young writer who I had a conversation with on intellectual property rights (IPR) ownership some time ago. I did quickly explain an ordeal I had experienced and its relevance to his interest. He had urged me to share the experience and I had agreed but did not because of time and other demands. I am not a Lawyer in the field, but I do have practical experience, thus, I do wish to share the following, beginning from that writer’s concern at the time, that in the area of copyright ownership, there must be clarity of its nature. As to whether it is an IPR product or a work for hire, the writer was employed with an institution as a member of staff and had proceeded from a meeting with a department head and other staff, to construct a narrative on the topic of the discussion, the writer’s view is, that it was executed through independent enthusiasm, and thus the writer assumed that the end product should be viewed as independent and an IPR entity. This was complex. I explained that A the writer was a member of staff and B, it can be construed that the inspiration emerged from the discussion, what might have been more practical would have been to negotiate some special leverage with the institution before proceeding, I advised the writer to discuss it with a Lawyer, as well as consult the internet. Then I proceeded to explain the experience I had that the writer insisted for the second time to tell it publicly. I will condense it as much to provide as much clarity as possible. In 1998 I travelled to the USA to follow up on some engagements I had made with colleagues in business. One of the items I had developed was ‘Drums of Freedom, the saga of the Haitian Revolution’ designed for a strip presentation. I had executed about ten pages of three strips each. It didn’t work out, because talk is cheap, and the incumbent work committed to was ‘The Ghosts of Port Royal’ designed to accommodate Jamaican comedian Oliver whom I had met. That work I had copyrighted; after much bickering things fell apart until 2011, the publisher contacted me and was eager to do an agreement to produce the ‘Drums of Freedom’. I would receive an advance towards production, after three years of production, I copyrighted the work on completion. I didn’t inform the would be publisher, because I had presented a contract which he never signed. A contract was sent by an American Lawyer, accompanied by a letter of enquiry as to whether it was the would-be publisher’s idea, as the lawyer was informed and I had executed the work for hire. Thus the copyright should be in his name , so kindly sign. I responded, explaining what I had done over the years, work that I’ve copyrighted, and the history of the then process, stating that I had conceived of it, executed its artwork and text, before proposing it. The Lawyer apologised and promptly copyrighted the work, a second time in my name. But it wasn’t over at that point. I had to order the publication pulled off of Amazon because of the inferior management of the production. Instead of scaling, the pages were skewed, the artwork was oblong, the book was copy printed no doubt at staples. In the end, I still own the copyright though tremendously disappointed.
One of the questions that also came up during the discourse with the writer was if I own the title of Brer Anancy, asked against my published Graphic work of the Akan Folk character or godling. It was a honest question, so I responded, explaining that I cannot own Brer Anancy. Anyone can produce stories and call them Anancy or Brer Anancy stories. Anancy is both tangible and intangible cultural heritage in public domain as far as I know, very much as any mythical character, in the case of Vlad Dracula. This was a real, brutal person to which Bram Stoker developed an incredible fictional alter ego, based on existing folk lore, to which his countrymen (Dracula’s) after the fall of the Iron Curtain lobbied against the film Industry to halt production on the ‘Dracula’ character, but could not halt the use of the Vampire genre. What I own is the character imagery that I developed, the storyline that I created and the character/s design construct of the storyline, even the font design of ‘The Adventures of Brer Anancy’ those based on my copyright status grants me a legal prerogative. I use the Library of congress for copyright registration. Guyana is the only country in CARICOM that does not facilitate this ‘Human Right.’ But with social media platforms, a viable trust by choice, the North American Copyright status becomes most relevant. Due to lobbying for IPR legislation in Guyana, I have had practical exposure and experience in IPR and other registration forms like the ISBN that can be sourced at the CARICOM secretariat, which I have also used.
In closing, ignorance is not an excuse. I lobbied over two decades for an annual subvention for creative citizens to put themselves in order, which includes the expenses of copyright, etcetera. The publishing incident I experienced can happen to anyone. The reaction to ownership of tangible Intellectual property is as vicious as any. Before I began this article, I had begun compiling the documents of that publishing engagement. I figure that its process will be useful to our creative minds in the future, and the future is here.
