Renowned Ghanaian political geographer, Professor Raymond Bagulo Bening has sued the Ghana government for infringing on his intellectual property rights.
He alleges that the government was illegally using contents of his manuscripts that trace the development of Ghana’s international boundaries from 1876 to date in the maritime boundary litigation between Ghana and Ivory Coast without his permission.
[contextly_sidebar id=”odODTLfffdpvXgomb6r2UgnvDuKD08q4″]The Commercial Division of an Accra High Court is expected to commence hearing of the case on Thursday. According to the suit, upon request by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Professor Raymond Bagulo Bening made available manuscript titled ‘Ghana: National Boundaries and Vicinal Relations (International Boundaries) 1876 – 2010’, to the Foreign Affairs Ministry on April 18, 2011. At the time, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni was the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The suit alleged that the Minister caused several copies of the manuscripts to be made available to some officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including the Ghana National Continental Shelf Delineation Project team.
It alleged that other officials used the same in their negotiations without the permission of Professor Bening.
It added that when Prof Bening demanded the return of the manuscripts, the ministry failed, neglected or refused to return the manuscripts to him.
He is, therefore, seeking general damages for infringement of his intellectual property rights of the manuscripts. Prof Bening is also seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining government and all other government officials from continuing to infringe on his intellectual property right in whatever manner.
The applicant is also seeking an order directing the Minister to return the manuscript to him. Contents of the manuscripts The manuscript traces the development of Ghana’s international boundaries from 1876 to 1957, as well as the Gold Coast-Togo boundary of 1914. It also discusses the problems of colonial boundaries up to 1957.
It traces the development of international boundaries of Ghana and the problems associated with these boundaries from 1876 to present. The manuscript also touched on Ghana-Ivory Coast, Ghana-Togo and Ghana-Burkina Faso boundaries and the problems associated with the boundaries from 1876 to date.
It also explains Ghana’s territorial sea, maritime boundaries and airspace in relation to Ghana-Ivory Coast boundary. It discusses the evolution of Ghana’s territorial sea boundaries, maritime and airspace from 1874 to present.
There is an interesting chapter on Anglo-French co-operation in West Africa from 1845 to 1957.
There are many maps illustrating the evolution of these boundaries, including the original map that will be used for the determination of the Ghana-Ivory Coast maritime boundary. On July 12, 1893, the original map of the Ghana-Ivory Coast maritime boundary was defined.
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Source: The Finder