It's shameful Chinese owns patent rights to Ghanaian Kente designs — Copyrights expert

Copyrights expert and advocate Kofi Boachie-Ansah has raised an alarm over China owning patent rights to Ghanaian Kente designs.

He said it's a shame that after producing Kente designs in Ghana for so many years, the country has not registered the patent rights to its name.

He stated that the Kente design has now been registered by a Chinese, that he owns the patent rights to these Ghanaian Kente designs, and we’re now taking steps as a country to correct.

Boachie-Ansah made this known at an event organised at the Alliance Française in Cape Coast by Creation Africa Ghana, which is a project from the French Embassy aimed at empowering entrepreneurs in cultural and creative industries.

Kente, which originates from the Ashanti Kingdom, is Ghana’s most revered cotton and silk cultural fabric.

There are two main strands of kente in Ghana representing two ethnic groups - the Ashanti and the Ewe (among whom the cloth is in fact known as kete).

However, Chinese counterfeits leave Ghanaian textiles hanging by a thread.

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