Ghana to sue producers of Black Panther movie
Ghana National Folklore Board which is a state institution responsible for the promotion, protection and registration of expressions of Ghana’s folklore has given a firm indication of initiating a legal action against Marvel Studios, producer’s of American superhero film, Black Panther, over alleged patent and copyright breaches.
The producers used the country’s famous and celebrated traditional fabric, Kente, in some of its scenes without appropraite permission from Ghana National Folklore Board, the government institution tasked to protect it cultural heritage.
Ghana to sue producers of Black Panther movie
According to the copyright laws, Marvel Studios have to seek permission from Ghana National Folklore Board before going ahead to use the nations kente in the film that broke several box office records netting 1.344 billion dollars as of May 22, 2018.
She added: “We are preparing a legal dossier.”
Although preparations are underway to sue Marvel, Ghana National Folklore Board is yet to formally write to them to express its concerns regarding the alleged breaches and accordingly serve notice of a possible suit.
“The strategy is that we are not going in for a fight,” “it is not adversarial” “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”.
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Ghana National Folklore Board will also be going after Starz, producers of ‘American Gods TV’ series for allegedly misrepresenting the Akan folkloric character Ananse as a god in the sequel instead of a trickster spider and will also be pursuing another one involving the popular Italian fashion designer, Velentino [Velentino Garavani], for allegedly commercializing the Ahenema royal African sandals.
“With regards to Black Panther, you know there was a lot of Kente. Adinkra symbols also featured heavily in the movie. So they are also part of the foreign claims that we intend to take upon,” acting Director of the National Folklore Board, Nana Adjoa Adobea told Winston Amoah on 3FM’s morning magazine show, Sunrise.
