Kenya Copyright Board has issued a public advisory on memes following the exploitation of Rally Champion comic video of two popular Kenyan comedians, whose still shots from the video were exploited as an NFT meme, and used by corporate organizations for gains without authorisation.
Arap Marindich and Tula Chemoget’s memes have gone viral on social media months after shooting a video imitating the World Rally Championship drivers who participated in the June 2022 Safari Rally that took place in Naivasha, Nakuru county.
As the video became viral and trended globally, Kenyans and citizens from other countries as well as corporates have taken screenshots of Arap Marindich’s facial expressions and created memes out of them some as NFTs raising questions on unauthorized usage of such intellectual property for commercial gains.
Kenyans have been warned against creating memes from copyrighted content as only the copyright holder has the exclusive rights to make any changes to their content. The board warned against commercialisation of such contents as NFTs.
“A meme generated without the authority of the Copyright owner is an infringement on their copyright particularly the exclusive rights to reproduce, copy, adapt and publish since the original photograph or video undergoes some alteration and incorporation of a text.” Kenya Copyright Board said in an advisory letter issued to the public.
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