Let’s respect copyright laws

 THE Games Organising Committee has done well by not letting Jokema perform the theme song “We are the heros”. Artists need to create their own songs and lyrics so they have exclusive rights and obligations to their creativity. These rights and obligations outline what someone can and can’t do with the material. 

Copyright is an important set of rights granted to the creator to protect his creativity. In fact, the song Jokema copied is originally from a group called The Wanted and the song is titled “We Own the Night”. Just because most Papua New Guinean’s love to listen to any music, regardless of the legitimacy and copyright purposes, does not give you the right to fool us. I understand the basic principle is that you cannot copy or distribute music without the permission of all relevant copyright owners. The relevant authorities need to ensure all PNG musicians create their own songs and lyrics so they can respect and protect their creativity.

True PNGean, via email