A few minutes ago, I saw an ad on CNN, with Barclays Bank congratulating themselves on being the 1st offshore bank in Ghana.
Well, the two photos displayed at the tail-end of the ad are mine and used without my permission or attribution. They appeared only for a few seconds but I got one of them clearly.
My photos are shared on my blog and on Flickr under an Attribution-Share Alike licence. Using without attribution or for commercial purposes is NOT ALLOWED!
I took both photos at The Independence Square during Ghana’s 5oth Indepence Anniversary celebration on the independence day and sent a couple of them to Yahoo News which they published.
I am annoyed by this gross abuse of my intellectual property. I won’t push anything but will embarass anybody that steals my photos or writing.
To understand how this works, see someone using my photo correctly.
Get your lawyer to contact there corporate communications or press department ASAP the link below might help
http://www.newsroom.barclays.co.uk/contacts/feedback.asp
Thanks for your comment Ugo. I had already seen that page but have sent a fax to their head office here in Accra Ghana.
I am waiting for their response.
Enforcing intellectual property laws in Africa is going to be an uphill battle (do they even exist anywhere on the continent but in South Africa).
Heck in any developing nation you’ll run into issues. Reminds me of the Disney characters used in a Chinese theme park without permission. http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=1716
And some people just don’t get it. They most likely don’t think they are stealing, they won’t understand what the wahala is about.
I am on your side here but you should realize that such things never existed on our continent before. Please keep us updated as the situation unfolds.
Thank you for the link and for the beautiful photography and commentary. Best of luck in your pursuit of these intellectual property infringements.
i want to work with the ugo