Chairman
of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega,
risks imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Abuja over the July 14
governorship election in Edo State.
Bedding Holdings Limited, the transparent
ballot box patent rights owner, has initiated contempt proceedings
against Jega before the court on the allegation of a plan by INEC to use
the product for the election in disobedience to the court’s judgment.
The company had sued INEC and six others
claiming that despite its patent rights, the commission used the ballot
boxes to conduct the 2011 general without first obtaining its
permission.
In its judgment in the matter on June 5,
the court, presided by Justice Adamu Bello, held that the firm was the
lawful owner of the patent rights for the ballot boxes and declared as
illegal the use of the materials for the 2011 general elections without
the consent of the plaintiff.
The court, in the judgment, also barred
INEC from using the boxes for any subsequent election, including the Edo
State gubernatorial poll, without first obtaining the approval of
Bedding Holdings Limited.
However, following indications that INEC is
planning to use the same ballot boxes for the Edo State election, the
court has issued ‘Form 48: Notice of Consequences of Disobedience of
Court Order’ against INEC, Jega and the Registrar of Patent, Federal
Ministry of Commerce and Trade.
The notice dated July 5, 2012, obtained by
our correspondent on Sunday read in part, “Take notice that unless you
obey the directives contained in this Order, you will be guilty of
contempt of Court and will be liable to be committed to prison.”
The company had approached the court
claiming that it had subsisting exclusive and bona fide patent rights
for the collapsible transparent boxes used by INEC for the conduct of
the 2011 polls.
The plaintiff contended that the
collapsible transparent ballot box was one of its innovations, over
which an exclusive patent right was issued to it by the Registrar of
Patents in the Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The patent rights has since been renewed twice, and is due to expire in 2013.
The plaintiff claimed that INEC violated
its patent rights by failing to obtain its permission before awarding
the contract for the procurement of the ballot boxes used for the 2011
general elections.
PUNCH NEWSPAPER
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