could not restrain the appellant from copying the “Gateway”, since the greater part
of the book had nothing to do with the respondent’s novel. But she did grant an
injunction to restrain the appellant from reproducing the respondent’s work,
“Woes”, in its capacity as a prescribed examination book in any subsequent edition
or reprint of “Gateway” or any other book, without first obtaining the licence of the
respondent. The learned trial judge refused to grant the order sought by the
respondent for the delivery up of all infringing copies of the respondent’s work, but
decided that the respondent should be compensated for the blatant infringement of
his copyright without just cause. In order to do this, she decided to conduct an
inquiry into the appropriate quantum of general damages for the infringement of
copyright that she had found. After dismissing an application by the appellant
asking her to declare her court functus officio and without capacity to examine the
question of damages further, the judge embarked on an inquiry, under Order 63 of
the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2004, CI 47, to establish the quantum of
compensation to be payable to the respondent.
She awarded the respondent
damages of $50,000 and 650 million cedis and costs of 100 million cedis.
The appellant’s appeal to the Court of Appeal from this judgment was dismissed.
Hence, the present appeal to this Court.
The summary of the respondent’s work in Gateway which was found to be in breach
of copyright was the following:
“Summary of the plot
Fundamentally this novel is the story of a Ghanaian named Foli. He is the lastborn child of poor parents, Adamu and Manssa. Adamu has a traditional
outlook and is hostile to modern education; he is glad when his friend Togbe
Koklo, a cattle owner, takes Foli on as a cattle herd. Foli meets the children of
Togbe Koklo and envies them because they attend school in the city. He longs
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