Ghana to sue Marvel Studios for using kente fabric without permission

The Board will be suing Marvel over alleged patent and copyright breaches. According to the Board, Marvel was required under copyright laws, to have sought permission from it before going ahead to use Ghana’s kente in the film that broke several box office records netting 1.344 billion dollars as of 22 May 2018.

Ms Adobea who spoke on behalf of the board says: “We are preparing a legal dossier. The strategy is that we are not going in for a fight,” adding “it is not adversarial”.

Though she said preparations have started on initiating the case, Ghana was yet to officially write to Marvel to express its concerns regarding the alleged breaches and accordingly serve notice of a possible suit.

Rather, Ms Adobea said the Board will “sit down with them [Marvel Studios], negotiate as to how they can compensate [Ghana] because they were to come for permission but they did not”.

She explained permissions are not required of anyone intending to use any of the Ghanaian symbols and folklore in a customary context or for personal use.