Four charged with infringement of copyright for selling foreign magazines

Accra (Greater Accra) 9 Dec ?99 -

Four persons, who were allegedly selling foreign magazines without authority from the publishers, appeared before a circuit tribunal in Accra on Wednesday, charged with infringement of the copyright law.

They are Eric Kobla Ahamazie, businessman, Charles Agbenyo Asamoah, Samuel Egbenu, both vendors and Ernest Asare, a businessman.

They pleaded not guilty to two counts of abetment and infringement of copyright. They were each granted two million cedis bail with one surety to re- appear on January six, 2000.

The tribunal, chaired by Mrs Frances Owusu-Arhin, ordered that the docket be sent to the Attorney - General's Department for advice.

The prosecution said the complainant is an agent of Ronner Enterprise, which has letters of authority and exclusive right under the copyright law to distribute for sale, some foreign magazines including Times, Ebony, World Soccer and Computer World.

For sometime now, the complainant discovered that there has been thefts of some of the magazines whenever they arrived at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

The prosecution said on July six, the complainant found that copies of the latest Times, which was yet to be cleared from the KIA were sold above the approved price of five thousand cedis at Koala Shopping Centre at Osu.

The owner of the shop mentioned Ahamazie and Asamoah as his suppliers.

Further investigations led to the arrest of Egbenu and Asare.

The prosecution said investigation showed that the accused persons have no authority to sell the magazines.