As a result of a pending lawsuit from the
The suit, which has already been drawn out, is expected to be filed any time soon to seek monetary penalties as well as an injunction to prevent additional copyright infringement by halting the awards program.
The MTN Liberia Music Awards is owned and organized by the Liberia Music Awards, with sponsorship from Lonestar Cell MTN. The telecommunications giant is not a party to the potential as the right of the awards is not owned by them. [1]
According to
"Your failure to obtain the appropriate license before hosting the aforementioned program will leave us with no option but to take the necessary and appropriate legal action against your Institution in keeping with the law,"
"You are [therefore] encouraged to take measures and seek advice on how to obtain a copyright license before the commencement of the MTN Liberia Music Award ceremony."
The pending suit aims to hold the organizers of the awards for allegedly persistently breaking the country's 2016 Intellectual Property Act and accompanying regulations -- specifically concerning public performance rights. Under copyright law, a public performance license is an agreement between a music user rights management organization, like
Meanwhile, the letter, which has been leaked, had telecommunication giant
The partnership began in 2018 and, since then, the award has morphed into the country's most prestigious music award show featured each year. The MTN Liberia Music Awards, as presented by
According to
Meanwhile, the Acting President of the
"This is criminal exploitation of our efforts as we spent hours generating these works," Tony Karbedeh said. "However, we are relieved that the
Karbedeh pointed out that the organizers of the awards infringe on the moral rights of creators, giving the public the impression that they have endorsed the company to use their work in the absence of a license.
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